Authorities in Taipei detained three Chilean men after surveillance cameras recorded footage of a woman allegedly being robbed of NT$660,000 in cash in an incident involving a cup of “foul liquid.”
The men were transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning yesterday, where they were charged with larceny.
Zhongshan District Police Precinct officer Yeh Hsuan-tsen (葉宣岑) said the three Chilean nationals arrived in Taiwan this month on tourist visas and are suspected of belonging to an international gang of thieves.
Yeh said the suspects — identified by the Taipei City Police Department as Marcelo Espindola, 50; Jose Riveros, 44; and Alejandro Donoso, 43 — might have carried out operations in Taiwan several times over the nearly three weeks they have been in Taiwan.
Yeh urged anyone who might have been targeted by the suspects to contact police.
Police investigators examined video footage from surveillance cameras that they said showed the trio pouring a foul-smelling liquid on a target and then stealing money while she was distracted.
According to a police report, the three men followed two women who had withdrawn money from a bank in Taipei on Tuesday last week.
A woman surnamed Yang (楊) borrowed NT$660,000 from a friend, who withdrew the money at the bank before giving it to Yang at a cafe, the report said.
The trio followed Yang until she passed a building on Minquan W Road, where Espindola took out a container of liquid, which police said might have contained fecal material, and threw it on Yang from behind, it said.
Espindola apologized and said in English “water” and “toilet,” leading her inside the building’s lobby in the pretense of helping her clean up, it said.
While using a towel to wipe Yang’s dress, the other two Chileans acted in concert to take the money from her bag, the report said, adding that they also worked to distract other people in the lobby.
The incident was captured by surveillance cameras and a security guard at the building intervened, telling Yang that her bag had been opened, it said.
The men fled the scene with the money, the report said.
They took a high-speed train to Kaohsiung and checked in to a hotel, it said, adding that police tracked them and apprehended them on Monday when they went to eat at a fast-food restaurant.
Police found about NT$200,000 among foreign currencies at their hotel room and questioned the trio on the whereabouts of the cash Yang reported stolen, adding that the men might have transferred the money outside Taiwan.
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