Kaohsiung County police launched an investigation yesterday to determine if any of its officers were involved in an imprisonment case in which three people were held in custody and tortured by loan shark gangsters for months.
Kaohsiung City police on Tuesday night saved the three victims and busted loan shark gangster Chang Chin-tai (張進泰) and his wife on suspicion of imprisoning and torturing three defaulting customers over a 270-day period.
Chang and his wife, Huang Hsiu-li (
tea breaks
Chinese-language newspapers the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) and the China Times reported yesterday that some Fengshan police officers were familiar with Chang and often stopped by his shop, located about 500m from Fengshan police station, to have tea with Chang.
The reports said that as various illegal businesses were involved with suspected gangsters around the Fengshan Railway Station and as Chang knew many people in that area, he had offered police some information relating to criminal cases they were probing.
Kaohsiung County police were embarrassed when the captives were rescued by Kaohsiung City police and it was suspected the bureau might have turned a blind eye on the case.
"We learned that some Fengshan police officers knew Chang and went to his shops on some occasions, but they told the authorities they did not know that individuals were held prisoner at the shop," Kaohsiung County Police Vice Commissioner Chen Tsiao-Long (陳朝龍) told reporters yesterday.
He said the bureau had formed a task force to probe the matter.
warning
Chen said that the family of the victims, surnamed Cho, twice reported -- in October and February -- to Chishan (
Because the victims' family only reported the disappearance as a missing case rather than a possible kidnapping, Chen said Chishan police did nothing except list the couple in the nation's list of missing individuals.
prisoners
Police said that the couple owed Chang a total of NT$1.8 million (US$54,000), but were unable to make the payments.
The couple then fled but they were tracked down by Chang and his gangsters, who on Aug. 27 held them hostage in Chang's shop.
Another victim, surnamed Ou (
The two male victims were chained and forced to sit in their underpants while Cho's wife was held in the attic.
In addition to regular beatings, Chang provided them with just two meals a day and only allowed them to take a shower once a week. The conditions were appalling, police said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all