Police said yesterday that Chinese nationals and Taiwanese gangsters were involved in the crimes that Chang Hsi-ming (
"Chang and his gangsters committed several kidnappings. Evidence showed there were gangsters involved in those kidnappings behind the scenes. They offered weapons and information to Chang, and suggested that he kidnap certain wealthy individuals," said Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) Commissioner Hou You-yi (
"These gangsters included local Taiwanese and Chinese nationals living in China. Police will do their best to bust the whole criminal ring," Hou added.
PHOTO: CHANG HSIEH-SHENG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hou said he hoped that both sides of the Strait would cooperate to break up Chang's criminal ring.
Police said they have identified a number of people connected to Chang through his email list and addresses in his computer, including a well-known person living in Tainan County, whom police refused to identify. Police said Chang had been in contact with his family and friends via the Internet.
Police said an Internet game named Heaven, on which Chang spent several hours every day, played a key role in locating Chang.
Police said they had already locked on to Chang's whereabouts, and was able to confirm his location through his IP address approximately a week before Wednesday's raid. Police said the house in Shalu Township (
Police yesterday arrested seven suspects who helped Chang go into hiding, in Taichung County, Taipei County, Nantou County and Taoyuan County. Others suspected of aiding Chang are still wanted.
Doctors at Tungs' General Hospital (
Chang was arrested after a shootout with police in Shalu Township Taichung County Wednesday morning. Chang, whose gang specialized in kidnapping for ransom money, had escaped police dragnets on at least four occasions before.
Chang and the gangsters began to kidnap for a living in 1995. Police said that Chang and his gang members were involved in at least 10 kidnapping cases. Two recent cases made capturing Chang a priority for the police. Chang and his gang allegedly kidnapped Hohsin Bus Co owner Yang Chin-yuan's (楊錦元) son last July, and held him for NT$36 million (US$1.13 million). Chang and his fellow outlaws also kidnapped Taichung businessman Yu Kuo-chu (于國柱), asking for NT$500 million in March. Yu was released after his family paid the ransom.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift