The Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday confirmed that Philippine authorities have captured Oren Shlomo Mayer, an Israeli-American listed as a suspect in last month’s murder of Canadian Ryan Sanjay Ramgahan in New Taipei City.
Mayer, 37, was apprehended late on Wednesday, after Philippine police received a tip-off and raided an apartment building in Cainta, which borders eastern Metro Manila, bureau Deputy Commissioner Lin Yen-tien (林炎田) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The bureau had relayed a request for Mayer’s arrest and information on the case to the Philippine National Police, as Taiwan and the Philippines have an extradition agreement, he said.
Photo: CNA
The police then formed a special 20-member team to handle the case, which tracked Mayer to a hotel in Manila and monitored his movements, International Criminal Affairs Division Chief Yang Kuo-sung (楊國松) said.
Yang said his office had also notified Interpol and the Philippine Bureau of Immigration that Mayer was wanted in a murder investigation.
Citing Philippine police, Yang said that Mayer had evaded police and attempted to go to the Israeli embassy in Manila, likely to seek protection from arrest, but it was closed due to a holiday.
Mayer’s capture is an example of continuous and improving cooperation between Taiwanese and Philippine police agencies, Yang said, adding that negotiations were under way on extraditing Mayer to Taiwan, which might take time.
“We plan to extradite Mayer to Taiwan, as we have received requests from US and Taiwanese authorities,” Philippine immigration bureau spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said.
Local media reported that after Mayer finished serving in the Israel Defense Forces, his family moved to the US, where he obtained a university degree in California before traveling throughout Asia.
Prior to moving to Taiwan, he worked in the Philippines, which bureau officials said could be why he fled there.
Mayer, who is also known as “Oz Diamond,” arrived in Taiwan in 2015 and worked as an English-language teacher before becoming a tattoo artist and opening a tattoo studio in Taipei.
The studio’s Web site listed a Taiwanese woman surnamed Yen (顏), known as “Cat Diamond,” as its business manager. Yen was Ramgahan’s wife.
Ramgahan’s headless torso was found at a riverside park in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) on Aug. 22.
Investigators identified three suspects: Mayer, 30-year-old American Ewart Odane Bent and 21-year-old Taiwanese-Canadian Wu Hsuan (吳宣), also known as Dan Wu.
Evidence indicated that Wu purchased machetes and a wire saw allegedly used in the murder, which authorities said might have been due to financial disputes over illegal drugs.
Bent and Wu were arrested late on Aug. 24, while Mayer reportedly departed for Manila early that morning.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
HIGH-TECH DEAL: Chipmakers that expand in the US would be able to import up to 2.5 times their new capacity with no extra tariffs during an approved construction period Taiwan aims to build a “democratic” high-tech supply chain with the US and form a strategic artificial intelligence (AI) partnership under the new tariffs deal it sealed with Washington last week, Taipei’s top negotiator in the talks said yesterday. US President Donald Trump has pushed Taiwan, a major producer of semiconductors which runs a large trade surplus with the US, to invest more in the US, specifically in chips that power AI. Under the terms of the long-negotiated deal, chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) that expand US production would incur a lower tariff on semiconductors or related manufacturing
RSS