Police on Sunday apprehended a suspect wanted in connection with the deaths of two men in Taoyuan.
After reports that two men had been shot and killed, a taskforce was formed on Thursday last week to coordinate a search for the suspect with assistance from other law enforcement units, Taoyuan Police Precinct Chief Huang Fu-tsun (黃富村) said.
Huang said police traced the suspect, Su Po-yuan (蘇柏源), 36, to Changhua County on Thursday night.
Photo : CNA
The next day, Su’s friend drove him to a hotel in Hualien County where they checked in for the night. They traveled south to an unnamed location in Pingtung County on Saturday, then drove north on the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) on Sunday, Huang said.
Police wore plain clothes and caught up with the pair in Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township (古坑) at about 6:30pm on Sunday night, Huang said.
Police blocked off the car with their vehicles and Su was found hiding in the trunk. He and the driver were taken into police custody, and arrived in Taoyuan at about 10:30pm on Sunday.
Police recovered the weapon allegedly used in the killing — a handgun with one spare bullet — together with clothing in a backpack that had been abandoned on a roadside in Hualien County’s Jian Township (吉安), Huang said.
Su is likely to be charged with homicide, although an investigation is ongoing, Huang said.
It is alleged that the two victims, Yang (楊), 28, and Chen (陳), 27, worked in a criminal ring under Su and withdrew money at ATMs from the accounts of people who were being scammed.
Investigators said they believe the pair were killed by Su, as they had been keeping a portion of the money on top of their commission.
Seperately, Tainan officials yesterday announced that they had detained three Vietnamese suspected of being involved in the death of a Vietnamese migrant worker surnamed Phan.
Two men, surnamed Nguyen and Le, were taken into police custody after a search in Tainan’s Anping District (安平) on Saturday night, while a third suspect surnamed Doan was detained in Taichung on Sunday, police said.
Police officials said the trio, also migrant workers, assaulted Phan with a metal club and a knife in Tainan, as Phan is believed to have quarreled with one of the suspects over a girlfriend.
Phan was found with bruises, stab wounds and lacerations, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital on Saturday morning.
Evidence and video footage showed that the three suspects had been at the victim’s residence and left after the assault took place, police said.
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