The New Taipei City (新北市) Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted Hu Tsung-hsien (胡宗賢) and Chu Ya-tung (朱亞東) over their suspected roles in a failed bombing attempt on a high-speed rail train in April and asked for the heaviest punishment possible.
Both Hu and Chu are being indicted on charges of attempted murder, attempted arson and forgery.
Prosecutors claim that Hu’s motives were not simply to express his dissatisfaction with society, adding that he also attempted to gain personal profit from short-selling various stocks prior to the attempted attack.
Hu spent a lot of time looking up Clostridium botulinum (a toxin-producing bacterium) and how to remotely detonate explosive devices using a mobile phone, prosecutors said.
The indictment said that Hu, with Chu’s aid, placed explosive devices on northbound high-speed rail train No. 616 as well as outside the Tucheng District (土城), New Taipei City, constituency office of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰).
Prosecutors further charged Hu with giving suitcases containing explosives to Lu’s office in the name of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) saying they were to be given to Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘).
Prosecutors discovered that after Hu had allegedly placed the explosive devices on the high-speed train, he used the Internet to place an order to short-sell 500 shares.
All four bombs failed to explode due to either mishandling on Chu’s part or design flaws, prosecutors said.
The two suspects fled Taiwan and flew to China after allegedly planting the explosive devices. Chinese authorities — with the aid of facial recognition software — apprehended the pair in Guangdong on April 14 and repatriated them to Taiwan on April 16.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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