Authorities in Yunlin County took two suspects into custody on Friday for their alleged involvement in a firearms incident, with police saying the men were apprehended in possession of a cache of powerful assault weapons.
The two suspects, one surnamed Chu (朱) and the other surnamed Sun (孫), are suspected local underworld figures working for a man surnamed Tsai (蔡) in Douliou City (斗六), police said, adding that Chu was in a financial dispute with a man known as “A-Ka.”
It was alleged that Sun saw A-Ka having a cigarette outside a shrimp fishing farm in Douliou City on Wednesday and telephoned Chu, telling him to bring the firearms.
The two suspects arrived and allegedly shot off a total of 38 rounds as a warning to A-Ka that he should settle the debt with Tsai.
Sun and Chu allegedly fled the scene afterward, while frightened customers at the premises called the police.
The Douliou police station sent officers to comb the site and recovered 38 spent bullet cartridges, fired from two different weapons.
Realizing the police were onto them, Chu and Sun, accompanied by their lawyer, turned themselves in on Friday.
After a search of the pair’s car, police were surprised to find four powerful weapons in it, of types rarely seen in the nation.
These included a US-made Bushmaster model XM-15 semi-automatic assault rifle, which is said to command a price of about NT$2 million (US$65,700) on the black market in Taiwan.
They also reportedly had two semi-automatic pistols, a German-made P220, a Czech-made CZ 75 and a Czech-made small assault rifle.
The two were charged for violating the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例), with the Douliou police department saying such firearms were capable of causing great damage were rarely seen in the nation and it is therefore imperative to discover where they came from.
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