Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (
"Any information regarding either of them will be rewarded with NT$5 million. Anyone who helps us arrest both of them will get NT$10 million," Yu said at a press conference yesterday.
Hsueh and Chen are wanted in connection with the kidnapping of a wealthy Chiayi businessman's three sons and brother-in-law this week, as well as allegedly masterminding the kidnapping of Taichung City Council Vice Speaker Chang Hung-nien (
They are also suspects in other extortion and firearms cases.
However, the family of the latest kidnap victims has apparently refused to cooperate with police investigators.
The Chiayi City Police Department held a press conference late Wednesday to announce that four people had been released following a ransom payment, almost two days after they were abducted.
According to police, at around 7am Monday two men armed with a pistol and an Uzi submachinegun broke into a Chiayi residence belonging to Shen Mao-lin (沈茂林), a businessman working in China.
They seized Shen's three sons and his wife's brother and told his wife, Lin Hsiu-ju (
After negotiations, the ransom was reduced to NT$4.8 million and the four were released around 11:30pm Wednesday after the family paid the money.
Police said that they do not know when and where the family made the payoff because the family has refused to cooperate with them.
In fact, to protect the victims, during the first press conference at 1:30am yesterday, Chiayi City Police Deputy Chief Wu Fang-fu (
He said the entire case might be a misunderstanding.
"Lin's brother took her three children out for a joyride and now they have all come home. There was no kidnapping. That was what I was told," Wu said.
However, approximately 10 hours later at another press conference, Chief Wen Kuo-chung (
The police said they identified Hsueh and Chen by fingerprints left at the crime scene.
Hsueh and Chen were arrested in Miaoli County on March 21, 2000. However, Miaoli judges decided to release them on bail even though prosecutors had asked for them to be detained. They have been on the run ever since.
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