Taichung’s Tunghai University resumed water supply yesterday after the Taichung police arrested a man who allegedly attempted to poison the school’s water system with rat poison.
Tseng Hua-yuan (曾華源), secretary-general of the school, said it had reinstated water supply after the school’s three water tests found no trace of poison.
The school had been forced to suspend the supply since Friday morning after a note was found under the door of the school’s president’s office on Thursday.
In the note, the blackmailer demanded NT$5 million (US$150,800) and 2.5kg of gold and threatened to poison the school’s water supply if it refused to comply with his demand, the school said.
The Taichung City Police Bureau yesterday announced that the police had solved the case.
Bureau Director-General Yeh Kun-fu (葉坤福) said the 39-year-old suspect, surnamed Wang, had confessed that he blackmailed the school because he owed a lot of money for illegal online gambling.
“He needed to pay NT$300,000 by May 5 and he said he had no other way out,” Yeh said. “He lives close to the university and is very familiar with the university’s buildings. He said he did not hold any grudge against Tunghai.”
Yeh said the suspect had thrown rat poison into the university’s water tank on Friday, but fortunately the poison did not fall into the water. The poison was a kind exclusively distributed by the Taichung County Public Health Bureau, Yeh said.
Several students accused the school of delaying informing students of the poison threat, adding that it had also failed to secure the public water tank.
In the school’s defense, Tseng said it was afraid that the blackmailer might take other steps against the school if it publicized the threat earlier.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that about 40 schools had received notes threatening to harm students and faculty. The ministry said in the majority of cases, the threat later turned out to be a false alarm.
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