Shooting incidents over the past two days have prompted Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) to order a police crackdown on guns and gangs.
“These are serious provocations and pose a challenge to authorities,” Chen said yesterday following two incidents in New Taipei City. “We have mandated the National Police Agency (NPA) to provide all necessary support for a crackdown and have demanded that the New Taipei City Government firmly deal with the situation.”
“The criminal groups responsible must be brought to justice and effective crime-prevention measures implemented,” he said.
Photo: Cheng Ching-yi, Taipei Times
“The city government must live up to its responsibility and take action without delay,” he said.
Hou, who is in Singapore, said in a video taken on his phone that he had ordered police to conduct checks at nightclubs and find all of the people involved in the incidents.
“We cannot allow criminals to be so brazen,” Hou said.
Photo: copied by Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
The first incident occurred early on Wednesday.
Rival gang members were involved in a car chase that started in Taipei and ended in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), police said.
One of the suspects allegedly fired 11 shots from a handgun at a pursuing vehicle, police said.
Two people turned themselves in, with a teenager surnamed Wu (吳) telling officers that he had fired the shots, police said, adding that the other was a man surnamed Lin (林), who told them he was driving the car with Wu in it.
At about 8am on Thursday, a man surnamed Liu (劉) allegedly fired 51 bullets into the shuttered entrance of a pawnshop in Tucheng District (土城), police said.
Experts identified the firearm as a modified US-made F-1 Skeleton “PCC” 9mm pistol.
A preliminary investigation indicated that the two incidents were related, police said.
Rival groups were fighting over NT$1 billion (US$32.66 million) of methylone after police raided two sites in New Taipei City and Yilan County where the drug was allegedly being produced, police said.
The Bamboo Union’s Hongren Chapter ran the drug operation, while the Taipei-based Huashan Gang (華山幫) had placed an order, police said.
The Hongren Chapter apparently asked the Huashan Gang to split the losses after the drugs were confiscated, but were rebuffed, prompting an argument and the car chase, police said.
Gang bosses might have deliberately sought teenagers to use the weapons, as both were 17 and turned themselves in immediately, which would allow them to seek reduced sentences, police said.
New Taipei City Councilor Tai Wei-shan (戴瑋姍) also called on the mayor to act.
“Gangsters firing guns in broad daylight are challenging Hou’s authority,” Tai said. “Hou’s long career in policing does not equate to leadership ability or competence.”
Hou is a former director-general of the NPA.
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