The nation's top cop said yesterday it was a "big mistake" that Hualien police allowed the speaker of the county council to set free three suspected drug dealers who were in custody.
But National Police Administration (NPA) Director-General Chang Si-liang (
"It was our mistake, I must say," Chang said. "Nobody has the right to `pick up' anybody in police custody, especially when the person is involved in a criminal case."
Asked whether the speaker should take responsibility for the case, Chang said, "That will depend on the prosecutors' decision when they complete their investigation."
Chang, speaking at a press conference yesterday morning, said that Officer Chen Ching-kuo (
On Thursday, the NPA transferred the case to the Hualien District Prosecutors' Office for further investigation.
The ordeal began on Tuesday night when police received a call from a resident stating that suspects appeared to be dealing drugs in Nanhua Village.
Chen, Yang and five other officers arrived at the scene to investigate.
The officers found four people suspected of dealing drugs. Three of them ran away but the police managed to arrest Lai Chiao-jung (賴樵榕).
They also discovered 28 heroin bricks, which weighed a total of 10.64kg and were estimated to be worth more than NT$100 million, along with a pistol.
Police also discovered that three men -- Lee Wen-chien (李文漧), Chao Chi-chuan (趙啟全) and Chen Ding-chi (陳定志) -- had been left in a vehicle with their hands and feet tied and blindfolded.
Police suspected that these men were also narcotics dealers and that the drug deal had gone wrong.
They brought all four men back to the police station at around 10pm on Tuesday night.
Yang Wen-chi, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), arrived at the station at 11pm and left with Lee, Chao and Chi five minutes later.
When approached by reporters, Yang said that he did not know the trio. He said he merely gave them a ride to the local hospital at their request and that the police had allowed him to do so.
"Hualien City Resident Representative Huang Chi-cheng (
"The three men told me that they needed to go to the hospital and asked me whether I could help. I decided to give them a ride after the police allowed me to do so," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique