Ko Szu-hai (
The Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday sent 45-year-old Ko to Tainan District Court, which was seeking him in connection with an intimidation allegation.
The investigation bureau also said it had charged Ko in pursuance of the anti-gangster Chihping Program (
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Police said Ko had blackmailed several businesses by letting hundreds of stray dogs loose on their premises and also by disabling their telephone connections.
In the latter case, Ko used a computer modem to make repeated automatic phone calls to certain businesses to tie up their lines, the police said. In one case, police said, Ko successfully extorted NT$1.3 million from an electronics factory in Taoyuan County.
As police escorted him to the court yesterday, Ko said he was innocent and had been "framed."
However, stray dogs and disabling phone calls have been the two prominent features of Ko's media image. He is known for keeping hundreds of stray dogs and calling himself a campaigner for stray dogs. Dissatisfied with the Taipei City Government's treatment of strays, he has protested against the government several times.
Media reports last year said he had transformed his apartment into a dog shelter. Last November, the city government tore down the facilities, prompting him to sue Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
In a high-profile case earlier last year, another facility for stray dogs owned by Ko in Miaoli County was found to be in such a terrible condition that it breached animal welfare regulations. According to William Ku (
"There was no management at all and the dogs were so sick and hungry that some of them even started to eat those that had already died."
He said that after the county government had destroyed the building and put down the animals, Ko used his automatic phone calls to disrupt the telecommunications of several local governments and other public departments of the county. "Our work was seriously affected," Ku said.
However, Ko's telephone tactics were apparently not punishable by law, police said.
The investigation bureau said that in another case in Taoyuan, Ko was accused of, but not indicted for, telephone disruption.
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