An anonymous tipster, whose information led to the arrest of notorious gangster Hu Guan-bao (胡關寶) 14 years ago, yesterday complained that he did not receive the NT$10 million reward that he was promised.
The case involved the kidnapping of Taishin Financial Holding Co Chairman Eric Wu (吳東亮). Hu and his associates kidnapped Wu in 1990 and demanded NT$100 million from his family. Wu was released on Dec. 18, 1990, after his family paid the ransom. The tipster, who is only identified by his surname Huang, informed police as to the whereabouts of Hu and his fellow kidnappers. Police arrested Hu and his gang in Christmas Day the same year.
Yesterday, Huang contacted local Chinese-language media and told them the Wu family had promised a NT$10 million reward to whoever provided useful information that led to the arrest of the kidnappers, but he never received the money. Huang also told the media he thinks the police confiscated the money. Police and the Wu family denied such a reward was ever offered.
"For the case, we did provide a NT$1 million reward to a tipster who helped us arrest the suspects. That money has been delivered and everything is on our records," said Kao Cheng-sheng (高政昇), deputy commissioner of the National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). "We never offered a reward as high as NT$10 million and neither did the Wu family," Kao said.
Former National Police Agency director-general Chuang Heng-dai (莊亨岱) and former CIB commissioner Lu Yu-jun (盧毓鈞) -- who were involved in the 1990 case, also said that they never heard of a NT$10 million offered by the Wu family.
Hu was sentenced to death and executed immediately after his conviction. In addition to kidnapping Wu, he also murdered two military guards in Hsinchu and was the first gangster in Taiwan who possessed a bachelor's degree.
After Hu was arrest, he denied all the allegations and refused to confess during police interrogation.
But current CIB Commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) successfully talked Hu into confessing to the crimes and divulge the location of a rifle, which served as a key piece of evidence during his trial. Six months later, the police found the evidence at a location in the middle of nowhere in Hsintien after Hu pointed it out for authorities.
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
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS