A man had his hand cut off in Taichung yesterday as part of an insurance scam.
Police said at a press conference that 35-year old victim, Huang Chun-ming (黃浚銘) reported yesterday that while on a sightseeing trip with friends to Wangkaoliao (望高寮) early yesterday morning, he had angered four members of a joy-riding gang (飆車族) who then chopped off his left hand.
After Huang was sent to a hospital in Shalu (沙鹿), Taichung police immediately set up a task force to probe more deeply the case.
According to reports in Chinese-language media, the police went to the alleged scene of the crime to search for Huang's hand but failed to find it. Their suspicions aroused, they went back to Huang and found that his wound looked very unusual. After questioning Huang further, it was discovered that he had decided to chop his own hand off and claim compensation because he had ammassed gambling debts of over NT$28 million.
The report quoted Huang as saying, "I had myself insured against all risks for a sum of NT$13 million, as well as taking out an additional policy worth NT$8 million in May. With the help of my mother, Chen Chin (陳琴), and my friends Lin Hsiu-chen (林秀貞) and Yu Wang-ta (俞萬達) I carried out my plan."
Huang added, "I had my left hand crushed by a car on Aug. 16, but it failed to break my hand. Therefore I had it hacked off with a sword at Yu's place this morning, after I swallowed two bottles of rice wine. My mother kept it for me after it had been chopped off." Police said it had to be hacked more than once.
Taichung City Mayor Chang Weng-ying (
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