The police yesterday made public video footage of the suspect who allegedly triggered a van explosion near the Taipei Railway Station yesterday and is suspected of also mailing letters to two local TV stations with bomb threats.
The video footage was from a security video system inside a convenience store on Taipei City's Gongyuan Road. On the footage, the suspect covered his face with a hat and a surgical mask. He was wandering outside the store for awhile and seemed to be waiting for something.
PHOTO: FANG BIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
When a FedEx deliveryman came, he immediately hurried into the convenience store and asked the clerk to deliver two packages, which were the two bomb threats to TV stations.
After the footage was released, a man was taken into custody by police last night under suspicion of being the man in the video. According to the Taipei City Police Department's Chungcheng First Precinct, the man had been loitering around a convenience store in the area when police spotted him because of his conspicuous outfit.
The man was wearing a fisherman's hat and a sports jacket on which the words "CIA" had been written in black marker. However, the man was released after the FedEx deliveryman who had seen the bomb suspect confirmed that the man was not the one he had seen. The man was released.
"[The suspect in the video] looks 170cm tall and 35 years of age," said Feng Tung-san (馮棟森), deputy commissioner of the National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). "In the letters, the suspect said that there will be at least four bomb explosions in the city before election day."
Feng said that police had collected seven usable fingerprints from the crime scene and are currently matching them with their records.
In the meantime, the CIB also announced a NT$1 million reward to whoever provides sufficient information that leads to the arrest of the suspect.
Also, the police said that they strongly suspect that the suspect is a person who does not know how to use a computer because he handwrote the letters and misspelled several words in his letters.
The suspect sent the letters to TTV and TVBS on Thursday, stating that the Taipei Railway Station and Taipei 101 will be the targets of his attacks.
Around 12pm, a mini-van that had been loaded with 11 20kg gas tanks exploded in a parking lot next to the station. The vehicle was completely destroyed. Nobody was injured in the explosion, but two other vehicles parked nearby were also destroyed.
At Taipei 101, the police immediately sealed the building and carried out a search for other potential explosives.
The raid was conducted by more than 200 police officers, military police and special agents overnight, because President Chen Shui-bian (
In addition to a raid at the building, the military police also deployed snipers on the roofs of nearby buildings to prevent a potential assassination attempt or attack on the president during the activity.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS