Police yesterday said they are targeting weapons dealers and homemade firearms manufacturers, as officers assigned to both the March 19 shooting investigation and the search for fugitives Chang Hsi-ming (
Police are investigating people with access or connections to homemade 8mm and 9mm pistols or bullets in relation to the shooting of the president and the vice president. These were the two kinds of bullets used in the March 19 incident.
Related to the search for the outlows Chang and Chen, who are wanted after a gun battle in Tainan County in July, police recently identified a weapons dealer who allegedly provided weapons -- believed to include pistols, rifles and even grenades -- to the pair.
"By focusing on manufacturers and dealers, it will save us a lot of time investigating these two cases," said Tsai Hsiang-chun (蔡祥春), head of the Criminal Investigation Section of the Ta-an Precinct under the Taipei City Police Department.
To locate and arrest Chang and Chen, the National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau Secretary-General Frank Chiu (
Tsai just joined the team as he was recently promoted. He will become the new deputy detective of the Fourth Division next month.
"We have located a gun dealer and he allegedly helped Chang and Chen with weapons," Tsai said.
"We are waiting to collect more evidence before we bring this guy downtown."
According to the precinct, Tsai was promoted and invited to join the team because of his experience investigating complicated criminal cases.
In addition to many kidnapping cases, he was the lead officer in the Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳) sex-VCD case, as well as the sex case of former Chinese Nationalist Party lawmaker Huang Hsien-chou (
In the meantime, the precinct also arrested Chang Ching-cheng (
Tsai said postal workers noted that the parts were "weird" when the package went through the X-ray machine, so they notified police immediately.
Police officers arrived at Chang Ching-cheng's residence with the postal worker and arrested him when he signed for the package.
Chang Ching-cheng told police he bought the pistol parts from Ebay web sites in the US and Germany and paid for them in US dollars. He said he was simply curious and ordered the parts to see if he could assemble them.
Police said a 9mm pistol can cost approximately NT$200,000 if bought illegally, but that Chang Ching-cheng had only spent approximately NT$10,000 for the parts.
"Mail order through the Internet will become a big [loop]hole for us when it comes to illegal weapons," Tsai said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS