Taichung gangster Yang Ding-jung (楊定融), the alleged mastermind of the murder of his rival Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠) late last month, was repatriated to Taiwan yesterday afternoon following his arrest at China’s Xiamen Airport.
Criminal Investigation Bureau officials declined to disclose more details.
“I can only tell you that we have him in custody now, but I cannot tell you too much at the moment,” said an officer from the bureau’s Sixth Division, which was in charge of escorting Yang back to Taiwan.
Yang was being interrogated by the bureau as of press time yesterday.
According to the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Yang left for Xiamen on May 28 after Weng was shot dead. Yang is suspected of hiring Liao Kuo-hao (廖國豪), 18, to kill Weng.
The officers said Weng and Yang were both Taichung gangsters who had a falling out after an incident involving two of their lieutenants in 2008, in which Weng’s man was killed and Yang’s later arrested.
Former Taichung police commissioner Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源) resigned after it was discovered that four Taichung police officers were playing mahjong and drinking tea at the scene of the crime, but did nothing to intervene.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C