Taichung police yesterday announced that they had caught a suspect within an hour of responding to a bank heist, but shortly afterward admitted to arresting the wrong man. Another suspect has since been arrested.
A middle-aged man wearing a red baseball cap and a dark jacket entered Yuanta Commercial Bank’s (元大銀行) branch in Taichung’s Salu District (沙鹿) at about 12:40pm yesterday, eyewitnesses said.
The man, who was wearing a mask and holding a large kitchen knife, shouted that he was robbing the bank as he leaped over the counter and threatened two bank clerks, the witnesses said.
Photo: CNA
Surveillance camera footage showed the suspect riding a bicycle to the bank and fleeing on the same bicycle.
He made off with an estimated NT$200,000, police said.
Chen Sheng-wei (陳聖偉), the captain of the Criminal Investigation Division at Taichung’s Chingshuei District Police Precinct, said that police apprehended a suspect, who was found in an alley about 500m from the bank within an hour of the robbery.
Police received tip-offs from residents about where the suspect went, Chen said, adding: “Finally a man was caught, whom we believe to be the suspect, since he matches the suspect shown riding the bicycle.”
Media footage showed a man wearing a red baseball cap being led by police officers and pushed into a cruiser.
However, a short time later, police said that they had made a mistake, and that the arrested man was not the bank robber.
Upon closer examination, the man did not have the same physical features as the robber and did not have NT$200,000 on him, Chen said, adding that police were confused because he had been wearing a red baseball cap.
Taichung police released the man in the afternoon.
He reportedly wants to sue the bank, because the security guard employed there allegedly identified to him as the suspect.
Police later last night said they had arrested a 44-year-old suspect surnamed Tsai (蔡) at his residence at 8:30pm, and found NT$185,000 with him.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS