A Japanese youth who arrived in Taipei on Sunday paid a visit to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday to thank police for finding his stolen car.
Masayuki Suzuki, the son of a Japanese businessman in Hyogo Prefecture, said he was very grateful to have his car -- a Nissan Skyline -- back.
Nissan has produced only 400 cars of this model, each of which is sold for more than Japanese Yen 6 million (US$49,826).
Suzuki said the car was a birthday gift from his father.
Accompanied by his father, Suzuki will travel to Kaohsiung today to claim the car for shipment back to Japan.
His car was one of five stolen Japanese cars uncovered by police at an automobile repair and remodeling shop in Jenteh, Tainan County, last October.
In the same raid, police also seized two sports cars that had been dismantled and 21 Japanese-made car engines.
Shop owner Wu Chih-hua and his brother, Wu Tung-hua, were arrested on charges of possession of stolen cars.
During questioning, both men reportedly admitted that they had re-assembled or chopped several stolen cars which were shipped from Japan by a man identified as Chuang Sen-chao (莊森超).
According to CIB officials, Chuang and three other Taiwanese men were arrested in Japan last April for allegedly stealing sports cars.
Bureau officials said Chuang has been detained in Japan since last April, while the three other men were deported from Japan last July.
Japanese prosecutors have demanded a two-and-half-year prison term for Chuang. He is accused of having stolen more than 70 cars in Kobe, Osaka and Hyogo between April 2001 and last May.
Bureau officials said they believe there are Japanese accomplices still at large in Japan.
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