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Police investigate bomb threats
NOTORIOUS:
The `Taipei bomber,' who leaves a packet of rice at the crime scene, was cleared of involvement in a suspected `joke' that saw several buildings evacuated
By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004, Page 2
Police denied any link between anonymous bomb threats in Taipei yesterday and a recent spate of attacks by the notorious "rice bomber."
Several high-profile buildings, including Taipei 101, IBM's headquarters and the Legislative Yuan, were evacuated yesterday after Taipei City Police Department received reports that bombs had been planted inside. Police and fire department officers conducted a search of the buildings, but found no explosives.
At first, police said they suspected that the threats were the work of a bomber blamed for a number of small explosions around Taipei over the past three months. The bomber has been dubbed the "rice bomber" because he leaves behind a small packet of rice for police to find.
Police, however, later said that the rice bomber was not behind the bomb threats.
"There is no direct evidence to prove our allegations," said Tsai Wan-lai (½²¸U¨Ó), deputy chief of Taipei City Police Department's Sungshan Precinct. "We are quite sure that these bomb threats were merely jokes. But we are trying to figure out who made these unforgivable jokes."
Police do believe, however, that the rice bomber was behind a bomb attack on a train from Keelung to Chunan on Monday.
Lee Chen-kwang (§õ®¶¥ú), acting chief of the Railway Police Bureau, said a small explosion occurred as the train stopped at Chungli Station, but did not injure any passengers or cause any damage.
Police said a small packet of rice had been found near where the explosion took place.
The rice bomber has now been blamed for seven attacks in Taiwan,none of which has caused any injuries.
The bombing spree began in Ta-an Forest Park on Oct. 27 and continued on Nov. 13, when bomb was found in one of the park's men's rest rooms. On Nov. 22, another bomb was discovered in front of the Ministry of Finance's Financial Data Center.
On Dec. 2, a fourth bomb was discovered in the Kuting MRT station and on Dec. 10 and Dec. 23, a further two bombs appeared at Taipei's Hsinsheng Park and Yucheng Park.
All of the bombs were disarmed by the police and the rice bomber's distinctive calling card found nearby.
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