The Military Police Command yesterday dismissed allegations of irregularities in its search of the home of a man said to be in possession of documents related to the White Terror era, saying the investigation was conducted in accordance with due process.
“The Taipei Military Police Station launched a probe on Feb. 19 that involved a man, surnamed Wei (魏), who was charged with possessing stolen property and interfering with personal privacy after he allegedly sold documents dated from the 1960s to 1970s on the Internet,” the command said yesterday.
The command said Wei confessed to owning and selling the documents and subsequently signed a consent-to-search form, adding that all the evidence was voluntarily collected by Wei at his residence.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Staff from the military police station did not conduct a search themselves, the command said, dismissing allegations of an illegal search as unsubstantiated.
“Following the collection of evidence, Wei was brought in to the station for questioning at 9:14pm on the same day. He was sent home at 9:34pm after the station issued a receipt for the seized items,” the command said.
The command made the remarks amid growing attention to the case implicating Wei, whose daughter is believed to be the author of an article detailing Wei’s situation that was posted on Saturday on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest academic online bulletin board.
Wei’s daughter, who goes by the pseudonym “k9t8u5,” said in the article, titled “Military police illegally searched my house and seized items,” that her father owned a collection of White Terror era documents.
“Just a few days before the 69th anniversary of the 228 Incident, several military police came and raided my house, confiscated the documents and used a minivan to drive my father to their interrogation room for questioning,” she said.
She said her father also sold pu-erh tea leaves online and military police posed as potential buyers of tea and asked her father to meet them at an MRT station.
She said her father told her that when he met the military police, they demanded to search his house.
“My dad asked to see a warrant, but they told him it was an easy task to get a warrant and that his refusal to cooperate would end badly for him. That was why my father got in their car and allowed them to search our house without a warrant,” she wrote.
She said her father was then taken away for questioning and did not return home until midnight, adding: “My dad later told me that he thought he was never going to be allowed to go home.”
A few days later, the Ministry of National Defense visited Wei at his house and offered him a cash reward of NT$15,000 for his “dedication to the nation,” provided that he signed an affidavit pledging not to reveal the “illegal search of his house, the illegal confiscation of the documents and his illegal detention,” his daughter wrote.
“My father turned down the offer... I am worried because he has not been able to sleep since the incident. The military police know where we live and I am afraid my parents might one day die in a forced suicide,” she said.
Military Police Command director Hsieh Ming-te (謝明德) yesterday faced the media, saying that the seized documents did not pertain to the 228 Incident or the White Terror era, but were classified government documents from the 1960s and the 1970s.
Hsieh said the command has the same mandate as law enforcement officials and that military police only went to Wei’s house after he consented to the search, adding that there was absolutely no offer of any hush money.
The 228 Incident refers to an anti-government uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, and a series of bloody purges against civilians in subsequent months by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.
The event marked the beginning of the White Terror era.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
DEEP-STRIKE CAPABILITY: The scenario simulated a PLA drill that turned into an assault on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, with the launchers providing fire support Taiwan yesterday conducted this year’s first military exercises at Longsiang Base in Taichung, demonstrating the newly acquired High Mobility Artillery Rocket System’s (HIMARS) ability to provide fire support and deep-strike capabilities. The scenario simulated an attack on Penghu County, with HIMARS trucks immediately rolling into designated launch areas and firing barrages at the Wangan (望安) and Cimei (七美) islands, simulating the provision of fire support against invading forces. The HIMARS are supposed to “fire and leave,” which would significantly increase personnel and equipment survivability, a military official said. The drill simulated an exercise launched by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern
RSS