A man surnamed Pan (潘) in Greater Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山) was arrested on Saturday after posting comments online saying he was “happy” about last week’s gas pipeline explosions.
As blasts rocked the city on Thursday night and early on Friday morning, Pan allegedly posted a message saying: “I am too happy about this! Haha, bang, bang bang, bang, bang! It’s time to blow some beasts up! As I have said, there will be destruction when there are too many beasts, but it is not serious enough, I hope it will continue, I have not laughed for a long time, but I cannot help laughing now.”
Greater Kaohsiung Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division officer Kuo Ting-tai (郭丁太) said that to prevent victims from suffering further and respond to the public’s demands, his unit immediately set up a special task force to probe the case and reported it to prosecutors.
Police arrested the 26-year-old and took him into custody on Saturday. They quoted him as saying that he “posted the message because I was in a bad mood, I did not mean anything by it.”
However, Kuo said police believe the message was menacing and offensive toward the victims, and therefore pressed charges.
Kuo said police are also investigating the source of an online rumor that pipes in Zuoying District (左營) were also causing concern, urging the public to take care not to add to speculation.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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