The deputy chairman of the Jenlan Temple (
"Police suspect that the Lin Ming-wha (
He said police did not believe that notorious fugitive gangster Chang Hsi-ming (
PHOTO: WANG YI-CHE, TAIPEI TIMES
Although Cheng's family was rumored to have paid a NT$25,000,000 (US$800,000) ransom, the family denies paying any such fee, the police said.
Cheng told police that the kidnappers did not abuse him. They gave him food, and let him take a shower several times during the 10-day ordeal. Tsai said Cheng is in good health.
According to police, late on the night of June 1, Cheng left his residence by scooter to go visit friends. Twenty minutes later, Cheng's wife received a phone call from one of the kidnappers, asking for a NT$100 million ransom payment.
Police said that after receiving immediate notification from the family, they found Cheng's scooter knocked over on a road near his residence.
Cheng told police a car intentionally hit him, and that kidnappers than put him in the car and took him to a house. He was kept tied up -- with his eyes and mouth covered -- for most of the next 10 days.
Cheng told police the kidnappers told him to pay up his debt of NT$8 million, but Cheng responded that he didn't owe anyone money.
On Friday night, Cheng was driven by car to Kaohsiung County and released. Cheng went home yesterday morning by himself.
Local newspapers said Cheng and Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), the chairman of Jenlan Temple in Tachia, Taichung County and also a legislator, have a very close relationship.
Both Yen and Cheng have criminal records. They were charged with forgery and breach of trust for misappropriating property from Jenlan Temple, and the case is still under investigation.
Local newspapers said that during the kidnapping, Yen and another unidentified person tried to bypass the police in order to communicate directly with the kidnappers.
Chinese-language newspapers have alleged that they tapped gang connections to rescue Cheng. Cheng's family paid a ransom, but they did not want police to investigate, because shady business disputes may have been connected to the kidnapping, the reports said.
One report said that police were bothered by the way "gang members dealt with other gang members."
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a