Two men accused of a failed attack on a high-speed rail train and outside a lawmaker’s office in April last year were given heavy sentences yesterday by the New Taipei City (新北市) District Court.
Defendants Hu Tsung-hsien (胡宗賢) and Chu Ya-tung (朱亞東), Hu’s aide, were sentenced to jail terms of 22 years and 12 years respectively on charges of attempted murder, attempted arson and forgery.
Hu and Chu were sentenced for placing suitcases containing incendiary devices on northbound high-speed rail train No. 616 and outside Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen’s (盧嘉辰) office in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Tucheng District (土城).
Hu left suitcases containing flammable substances in front of Lu’s office with a note which had the name of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) written on it and said the suitcases were to be given to Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), the ruling said.
After Hu placed the devices on the high-speed train, he placed an order to short-sell 500 shares. All four bombs failed to explode due to either mishandling on Chu’s part or design flaws, the court said.
The two men fled Taiwan to China after planting the incendiary devices.
Chinese authorities — with the aid of facial recognition software — apprehended the pair in Guangdong days later and repatriated them to Taiwan.
The district court said the two men can appeal the ruling to the Taiwan High Court.
The ruling said Hu’s attempt to attack a high-speed train which could have caused serious casualties was “evil.”
The ruling said that by arguing that the devices in the pieces of luggage would not cause a lot of damage and that he wanted to express his dissatisfaction with the state of society Hu had not shown any remorse for his actions.
The court added Hu, who is not only a lawyer but also holds certificates in the fields of chemistry and finance, did not simply want to express his dissatisfaction with society, but attempted to gain personal profit from short-selling various stocks prior to the attempted attack.
The court said Hu had spent a lot of time looking up Clostridium botulinum (a toxin-producing bacterium) and how to remotely detonate incendiary devices using a mobile phone, the court said.
During questioning, Chu agreed to cooperate with investigators and to reveal what he knew of Hu’s how dangerous those plans had been to Chu himself.
Chu said he did not know the suitcases contained incendiary devices until he smelled gasoline, adding that he had asked Hu after getting off the train whether the stakes were not too high.
Chu had been in great danger while placing the suitcases, police said, adding that they suspected that Hu had intended for Chu to take the fall for him.
Police said that if Chu had died Hu might have escaped arrest because of insufficient evidence, adding that it might have worked, as Chu was the last link in the plot.
Additional reporting by staff writer
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS