Police said yesterday that a man from the US, who is suspected of killing an elderly person in Hawaii, was arrested at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau said its International Department was informed by the US FBI on Friday morning that the Filipino-American suspect, Giovani Corpuz, took a flight from Honolulu International Airport on Hawaiian Airlines to Taoyuan airport, from where he was to fly to Manila.
The bureau said Corpuz’s flight arrived at Taoyuan at 6:15am on Friday and he was planning to take a Philippine Airlines flight to Manila at 3:50pm.
A bureau agent arrested the 41-year-old man when he approached a Philippine Airlines counter for transfer at 2:10pm, the bureau said, adding that he was being kept in custody at the Immigration Bureau’s Detention Center for Foreigners.
The suspect refused to answer questions about the homicide charge and said that he was going to the Philippines to attend a relative’s funeral, the bureau said.
The bureau said that according to US authorities, Corpuz was suspected of murdering 88-year-old Amby Cruz on New Year’s Day.
The US authorities are proposing to have agents repatriate him tomorrow from Taiwan, the bureau said.
The bureau said that since Taiwan and the US signed an agreement on preventing and combating serious crimes on Nov. 20, 2011, this was the first case in which Taiwan has arrested a serious US crime suspect.
In an unrelated case, a Thai woman was arrested at Taoyuan airport on Friday for allegedly using forged credit cards to make in-flight purchases.
Daorung Punchum, 30, was arrested when she stepped out of a plane that arrived from Incheon, South Korea.
She had intended to transfer to a flight to Macao.
She was found to be in possession of fountain pens, watches and liquor worth a total of more than NT$150,000 (US$5,000), which were believed by authorities to have been purchased with forged credit cards.
She has been on the authorities’ watch list since several airlines reported her as having used a forged credit card to buy luxury goods on board many flights, resulting in significant losses for the airlines.
The Thai woman has been turned over to the Taoyuan Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning, and is expected to face fraud charges.
Taiwan is continuing to liaise with overseas customs bureaus and airlines about the case.
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