An heir to the DHL Express empire was back in custody in the Pacific nation of Palau, police said yesterday, after he was plucked from the sea trying to evade capture.
Junior Larry Hillbroom, a multi-millionaire who holds US and Palauan passports, escaped from Koror Jail on Thursday night after appearing in court on a drug trafficking charge that carries a sentence of between 25 and 50 years in jail.
The head of the Palau police drug task force, Ismael Aguon, said that Hillbroom was tracked down to a car parked near the docks in a town called Meyuns Hamlet just before midnight on Friday.
When police swooped, he dived into the water and tried to swim away, but was soon arrested, Aguon said.
Hillbroom is a son of DHL founder Larry Hillblom, although their surnames are spelled differently.
He was arrested after the seizure of 160g of methamphetamine, and pleaded not guilty to a trafficking charge during a court appearance on Thursday.
When he was taken back to jail, Hillbroom fled while talking to a visitor inside the Division of Corrections office and was driven away in a waiting vehicle.
According to court documents, two women who were arrested with the drugs following a flight from Manila to Palau said that Hillbroom “offered to pay them when they arrived in Palau.”
Hillbroom faced one charge of trafficking in a controlled substance, with local officials saying the drugs would be worth US$160,000 in Palau.
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
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
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
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