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Suspect in murder of councilor fled

The nation's top police officer said yesterday that police had identified the main suspect in the murder of Taipei County Councilor Wu Shan-jeou (吳善九), but added that he had fled to China.

"The main suspect, Wu Hsin-chung (吳信中), 36, is a gang member from Banciao, Taipei County. We have discovered he entered China a couple of days after the crime was committed," National Police Agency Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) told reporters.

"We have contacted the Chinese authorities and asked for their help in tracking down Wu," Hou said.

He said Wu Hsin-chung was a known gangster who had a record of criminal activity in Taipei County's cities of Banciao (板橋) and Jhonghe (中和).

Although the murder was committed by a single person, there is a whole criminal group behind the murder plot, Hou said.

He said that Wu Hsin-chung and his friends had been found to be involved in the environmental clean-up business, and the murder was probably related to it.

The Taipei County Government has proposed an environmental clean-up of the largest river in the area, the Sindian River, and many companies were vying for projects related to the clean-up, as well as for contracts to dig sand and gravel out of the riverbed to deepen it.

Wu Shan-jeou, who was a People First Party (PFP) member, often brought up environmental issues at council meetings.

Police suspect that his assassination was related to his having prevented gangsters from using illegal front companies to obtain government contracts.

The man who shot Wu Shan-jeou was filmed by security cameras in the area as he rode away on a scooter with the license plate "JBE-706."

Police last week arrested two suspects suspected of involvement in stealing the scooter.

The two suspects told police they had handed the scooter over to Wu Hsin-chung.

The councilor was gunned down in his office in Sindian (新店), Taipei County, on May 23.

Witnesses said a suspect rushed into Wu's office and fired five shots from a pistol, four of which struck the lawmaker.

Wu was hit in the chest and left arm and was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at hospital.
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