Thu, Apr 18, 2013 page3

• No harm meant: suitcase ‘bomb’ suspect

  DISGRUNTLED: Investigators quoted the suspect as saying that the devices would not have exploded and that he had no targets and only wanted to scare the public

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  The man who allegedly made the suitcase explosive devices that were planted on a moving high-speed train and outside a legislator’s office said yesterday that it was the “poor state of society” that prompted him to make the devices.

  During questioning at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, Hu Tsung-hsien (胡宗賢) admitted to making the devices, but contended that they would not have exploded, investigators said.

  They quoted Hu as saying that the bombs were only meant to “scare” the public and that he did not have specific targets.

  

  Police from the Criminal Investigation Bureau take Hu Tsung-hsien, second left, and Chu Ya-tung, second right, to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  One of the devices was planted in a toilet on a high-speed train bound for Taipei and the other was left outside Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen’s (盧嘉辰) office in Tucheng District (土城), New Taipei City (新北市).

  Chu Ya-tung (朱亞東), a suspected accomplice in the failed bombing attempts, told the investigators that he was paid by Hu to purchase the suitcases and later left them at locations that Hu designated.

  Hu also directed him to purchase a silver Mitsubishi minivan that was registered to another individual, surnamed Lai (賴), Chu said.

  The vehicle was then used to transport the explosives.

  Chu said he did not know there were explosives in the suitcases.

  He said he “felt weird” after leaving the suitcases on the high-speed train and that he stumbled when putting the other two suitcases outside the legislator’s office because he panicked.

  Investigators added that Hu, a lawyer, and Chu, a taxi driver, had some kind of employer-employee relationship.

  They said Chu had borrowed money from Hu from time to time and that before the bombing attempts, Hu had promised Chu more than NT$100,000 (US$3,350) per month if Chu would work for him.

  The two men, both in their 40s, fled to China’s Guangdong Province on Friday on one-way tickets soon after allegedly planting the devices. Hu also took with him more than NT$1 million in cash, the investigators said.

  They were repatriated to Taiwan on Tuesday with the help of the Chinese authorities and held incommunicado.

  Fang Nan-shan (方南山), Hu’s lawyer, said that he would appeal against the incommunicado ruling.

  Fang said his client had answered all the questions put to him and there would be no risk of him colluding on testimony if he was released on bail.
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