Taipei police yesterday detained a 50-year-old Burmese man after receiving reports from MRT passengers that the man was carrying four knives in a train.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp spokesperson Leo Ling (凌啟堯) said passengers in a train on the Zhonghe-Xinlu line bound for MRT Nanshijiao Station had notified the driver that there was a man on board carrying knives.
The man reportedly disembarked at MRT Yongan Market Station and waved his knives around before he was tackled by a police officer and disarmed at about 4pm, police said.
No passengers were injured in the 13 minutes it took for police to respond to the reports and subdue the man, Ling said, adding that the company, to ensure the safety of passengers, had enacted security measures that resulted in two trains being ordered to bypass the station.
The company ordered all trains on the route — both southbound and northbound — to use one track until the incident was resolved, Ling said, adding that 100 passengers on the same train as the man were also asked to disembark at MRT Yongan Market Station.
Another eight trains, carrying about 1,600 passengers, were affected by the incident.
One police officer suffered a minor cut to his hand when he was disarming the knife-wielding man.
The police were looking into the motives behind the man’s actions and his identity, police said.
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