A total of 41 armed officers from the National Police Agency’s elite Wei-An Special Police Commando unit arrived in Taichung City yesterday afternoon to help maintain public order following a recent spate of serious crimes in the city.
This was the fifth time since 1999 that the unit was deployed to Taichung.
“We have the necessary gear and are confident we can do something for the city,” said Huang Shih-fu (黃世富), deputy lieutenant for the team, which is expected to be posted in the city for the next two months.
PHOTO: LIAO HUI-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The deployment came in the wake of a series of violent crimes in Taichung.
One such case occurred on Friday afternoon, when gang leader Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) died in a hail of bullets.
While the public was shocked by the incident, an equally shocking fact came to light on Tuesday — four police officers witnessed the execution-style killing and did nothing.
Two senior officers — Taichung City Police Traffic Chief Lin Chi-you (林啟右) and the Criminal Investigation Corps’ Third Division head Lin Wen-wu (林文武) — have been removed from their leadership posts and received a demerit.
The two lower-ranking officers — Shih Chang-hsing (石長興) and Sergeant Tai Chih-hung (戴志宏) — were given warnings as they were reportedly driving their superiors to the gang leader’s office.
Shih sustained an injury to one of his toes in the shooting.
Retired Taichung police officer Chen Wen-hsiung (陳文雄) yesterday said he was the one who invited the four to meet at Weng’s office, but denied allegations that he was working for Weng or that he was gambling at the scene when the crime occurred.
“That is a malicious lie,” he said. “I will consider filing a slander suit against people who accuse me of what I have not done.”
“I witnessed the entire crime, so I will definitely work with prosecutors for any future investigation,” he said.
Chen said that at the time of the incident, Lin Chi-you and Lin Wen-wu were sitting inside a room with him while Shih and Tai were waiting in the living room.
The remarks, however, contradicted Taichung City Police Commissioner Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源), who said Shih and Tai remained in their vehicle outside the office when the crime occurred, while Lin Chi-you and Lin Wen-wu were inside the office “hiding from bullets.”
The case ignited a public outcry, as the officers at the scene were believed to have been connected to gangsters.
Chen yesterday said the four officers did not intervene because they were off-duty that day and that as they did not carry weapons at the time, they hid while the assailant was firing his gun.
Commenting on the case yesterday, DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) — the DPP mayoral candidate for Greater Taichung — said that while Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) had political responsibility for the incident, it would not be proper to blame him for the entire affair.
In Taipei, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) yesterday apologized for the apparent deterioration of public safety and pledged to do their best to improve social order, including fully mobilizing police forces to root out illegal firearms and violent crimes.
Both governing and opposition party lawmakers yesterday asked Hu Mu-yuan to step down, but Wang said he was not considering letting him go at the moment.
Additional reporting by Vincent Y. Chao and Ko Shu-ling
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘NOT SUBORDINATE’: Only Taiwanese can decide the nation’s future, and people preserving their democratic way of life is not a provocation, President William Lai said Taiwan does not want China’s “one country, two systems,” and must uphold its freedom and democracy as well as resolve to defend itself, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, rejecting Beijing’s latest bid to bring the country under Chinese control. The president made the remarks while attending a commissioning ceremony for Taiwan’s first battalion of M1A2T Abrams tanks in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口). The tanks are made by General Dynamics, a major US defense contractor. China this week said it “absolutely will not” rule out using force over Taiwan, striking a much tougher tone than a series of articles in state media
RSS