Prosecutors said yesterday weapons found on three people investigated for suspected involvement in the election-eve shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did not match those used in the attempted assassination.
"Examination by police authorities have found the bullets smaller than those used in the March 19 shooting," Kaohsiung court prosecutor Wang Sun-jung said.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
"The pistols and bullets found in their possession were ruled out as being those used in the shooting," Wang said, adding police would investigate whether the three had other weapons.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The 9mm barrel, on which gunpowder residue was detected, and bullets were similar to the type used to shoot the president and Lu when they were campaigning in Tainan, police said earlier yesterday.
The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday arrested three drug dealers, saying that they may have been involved in the assassination attempt on Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
"I must say that up to this minute, none of them has admitted to the assassination attempt. We have not designated them suspects, either," Captain Chen Chia-chin (陳家欽) of the Kaohsiung City Police Department's Criminal Investigation Corps said.
"We just discovered too many coincidences linking them to the assassination attempt," Chen Chia-chin added.
After the police arrested the trio of suspects, State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa (
The three drug dealers are 30-year-old Chang Ming-jiunn (
All of them made their living by selling ecstasy in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area, police said.
Chen Chia-chin said that the three drug dealers used to run a business selling ecstasy, as well as a night club in Tainan City. The police had been monitoring the group for some time, even using wire taps. But the police had not yet gathered enough evidence to take action. However, after the assassination attempt on March 19, they suddenly disappeared, which attracted the police's attention.
The captain said that after being arrested, Chang told officers that the group closed its nightclub in Tainan simply because of poor business and planned to resume the nightclub business in Kaohsiung City as soon as possible.
The police said they had suspected the trio might be involved in the assassination attempt for a varity of reasons:
First, the three suspects weapons and bullets were similar the gunman's weapon and bullets.
Second, forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee's (
Third, the homemade bullets which wounded the president and the vice president were one copper bullet and one lead bullet. The three suspects had homemade copper and lead bullets.
Finally, the location of Chang's club in Tainan is only two blocks away from the scene where the president and the vice president were shot.
During the arrest, officers discovered an 8mm German-made pistol, a 9mm homemade pistol barrel, nine packs of Ketamine, 456 tabs of ecstasy, a few marijuana cigarettes and 33 lead and copper bullets, all homemade.
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
CHIPS AND DEFENSE: Trump said the US had lost its chip business and Taipei should pay it for defense, and added that ‘we’re no different than an insurance company’ Taiwan-US relations are solid, and both sides are in agreement that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region are everyone’s concern, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday following comments by former US president Donald Trump that Taiwan “should pay” for US defense. Taiwan is thankful to the US for supporting Taiwan’s bid to participate in international organizations, Cho told a news conference in Taipei. “I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100 percent of our chip business,” Trump told Bloomberg on June 25 in an interview that was published on Tuesday. “I think
SHOW OF SUPPORT: Taiwan has been one of the largest buyers of US defense equipment, supporting American businesses and jobs, US lawmakers said Taiwan has been paying for its own defense, a US Department of State official said on Wednesday, adding that purchases of military equipment are important to the US economy and for ensuring regional security. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked at a news conference about comments by former US president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s US presidential election, who said during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay Washington for its defense needs. “The purchases that they [Taiwan] have made not only are important, we believe, to regional security, but are important to the United States economy,”