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Yang Shuang-wu freed on bail a day after his arrest

Kaohsiung police were left with egg on their faces after prosecutors decided to release the once-notorious gangster and ex-convict Yang Shuang-wu (楊雙五) on bail yesterday only a day after police carried out a dramatic operation to arrest Yang.

"Evidence provided by the police was insufficient to prove that Yang and his alleged associates had committed any crimes, so prosecutors have decided to release him on NT$300,000 (US$9,100) bail," said Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝) yesterday.

Further investigations are required, Chung said.

Six alleged associates of Yang were also released on bail, and two more were released without bail.

Kaohsiung police were disappointed with the decision. They hoped prosecutors could charge Yang and alleged associates with violation of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例) and keep them in custody.

"Our efforts were in vain," a police spokesperson was quoted as saying in news footage broadcast by the ETTV news channel yesterday, adding that they had spent years gathering evidence that Yang had led a ring allegedly blackmailing gravel companies, disco pubs and other businesses in the south of the country since 2003.

Yang was released on parole in 2003 after serving 13 years in prison for his involvement in a number of high-profile shootings, including that of singer Gao Ling-feng (高凌風) in 1983.

Yang fled to Japan in 1983, and in 1987 he murdered two leaders of the Taiwanese Four Seas (四海幫) gang in Tokyo, subsequently ending up in Thailand.

He was arrested there in 1990 and brought back to Taiwan.
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