Police in Keelung yesterday said they had sent three men to prosecutors for questioning, with two of the suspects allegedly posting messages online calling for the assassination of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), while another allegedly threatened to bomb the nation’s longest tunnel.
Police said the three suspects were questioned on Thursday and admitted to posting the comments on Facebook, but said they did not know it was against the law to do so.
The Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) states that it is illegal to spread messages that threaten public security or jeopardize an individual’s property or personal safety.
Police in Keelung, working with the National Security Bureau and Criminal Investigation Bureau on the case, said two men, surnamed Tseng (曾) and Chen (陳), left messages on March 18 on Facebook group the “Anti-Ma Ying-jeou Alliance.”
One post read: “Kill Ma Ying-jeou. Only armed revolution will work.”
The third man, surnamed Chien (簡), left a separate post on Facebook, also in March, indicating plans to bomb the Hsuehshan Tunnel, the almost 13km-long tunnel on the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway (Freeway No. 5), which connects Taipei and Yilan County.
After looking into related computer and Internet usage data, the police identified the three suspects and summoned them for questioning.
Tseng, Chen and Chien were sent to prosecutors in Greater Taichung, Yunlin and Yilan respectively for further investigation, Keelung police said, without elaborating.
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