Police investigating two firearms incidents near the Taipei Second Funeral Parlor said initial reports indicated that it was due to two major criminal gangs being in a financial dispute over the development of a plot of land.
The first report came late on Monday night when about 20 people allegedly smashed up a car with the occupants inside the vehicle, with one person firing a shot from a handgun.
The second episode occurred at about 3am yesterday morning when a group of about 30 people arrived in eight cars, with surveillance videos showing them carrying wooden clubs and other weapons, uttering threats and allegedly firing a dozen shots at a premises near the Taipei Second Funeral Parlor.
Last night, 11 suspects were taken in for questioning after investigators gathered evidence and conducted searches, recovering two modified handguns, possibly the weapons used in the shooting, Taipei Daan District (大安) Police Sub-Precinct Station Chief Huang Kuo-chen (黃國珍) said.
“The two shooting incidents were related and the suspects said it was due to a financial dispute between two gangs. It is believed the suspects are members of criminal gangs and we are verifying reports that the violence resulted from a dispute over a real-estate deal,” Huang said.
The incidents arose from a battle over a plot of land next to the funeral parlor by members of two major criminal syndicates, the Bamboo Union and the Heavenly Way Alliance, media reports said.
In recent years, numerous businesses have offered to buy the plot of land for commercial development and the funeral services company Lungyen Group (龍巖集團) has reportedly secured a NT$1.1 billion (US$36.05 million) deal for the land, according to a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily.
However, gang members wanted to muscle in on the deal and get a cut of the money, the report said.
This plot of land had been illegally occupied by the local chapters of the criminal gangs for many years, from which they operated lucrative funeral services businesses and a number of Taipei city councilors have allegedly been involved in shielding the illicit operations from the police, the report said.
“The city government had for some time tried to dismantle the illegal structures constructed by these businesses, workers were met by Taipei city councilors and their representative, who protected the businesses and stopped the operation,” the report said.
Five councilors had been involved in the case, among them Taipei City Council Deputy Speaker Chen Chin-hsiang (陳錦祥) and Taipei City Councilor Chen Yung-te (陳永德), both members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the report said.
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