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Police admit release was `big mistake'

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 (張四良) did not mention forcing Speaker Yang Wen-chi (楊文值) to take responsibility for securing the release of the suspects.

"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 (陳清國), Sergeant Yang Juei-ting (楊瑞庭) and Chief Tseng Ching-chang (曾慶章) were all punished for the mistake.

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 (黃枝成) called me and said that three of my supporters needed help at the police station, so I went there to figure out what was going on," Yang said.

"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.
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