The suspect in a US$3 million kidnapping and burglary case in San Francisco was deported to the US on Friday after being apprehended in Kaohsiung, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday.
Zhang Tianze (張天澤), 30, has been implicated in the March 16 burglary of a woman in San Francisco.
A man broke into the victim’s home and physically restrained her, demanding that she transfer him money while brandishing a knife and threatening to torture her, the San Francisco Police Department said.
Photo: CNA
The victim transferred nearly US$3 million to the man, who left after also taking her mobile phones, the department said.
Investigators identified Zhang as a suspect and determined that he fled the US shortly after the burglary.
Bureau officers identified a man surnamed Zhang who arrived in Taiwan on March 18, first residing in a hotel in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) before befriending a female graduate student online.
Zhang allegedly told the student he worked as a cryptocurrency trading adviser in the US and taught her about investing, the bureau said, adding that the two traveled around Taiwan together, allegedly spending more than NT$500,000 in two-and-a-half months.
When police apprehended Zhang in a rental unit in Kaohsiung, the student was also there, but denied knowing that Zhang was wanted in the US, it said.
Police also found five “cold wallets” on Zhang, the bureau said, referring to a storage method for cryptocurrencies.
Police said Zhang traded cryptocurrency for cash on exchanges to fund his travels across Taiwan with the student, adding that they also found about NT$230,000 in cash when he was detained.
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