Yang Chun-chun (
An team from the Criminal Investigation Bureau yesterday arrested five members of the group in Taichung city and county. They also confiscated over 1,000 rounds of various kinds of modified ammunition together with a large batch of modified lathe tools. Police said all members of the group are around 20 years old, which makes it the youngest group modifying and selling guns in Taiwan.
Wang obtained modifying techniques for making guns more powerful by searching the Internet at various Internet cafes. The group's firearms and ammunition are the most popular among criminals in central and southern Taiwan.
Police say that the group's firearms have made their way to schools in the Taichung area. Some vendors who sell pornographic and pirated CD's at nightmarkets near schools also sell firearms. Ammunition is being sold directly at roadside stalls.
He tested the guns at night in remote mountain areas around Taichung before he sold them to criminal groups in the area at prices ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$50,000 together with ammunition. A ring of robbers that were caught by police in August were in possession of eight guns modified by Yang and his group. Police estimate that the group has sold over 30 guns, along with ammunition, for a total of several million dollars.
In related news, a veterinarian on Shihtung Road in the Tienmu area of Taipei was arrested on Wednesday evening on suspicion of modifying firearms and ammunition for using the hospital's surgery equipment. Police confiscated three modified handguns, ammunition and a small amount of marijuana. The man, Kan Chia-ming (甘家銘), said that he had modified the guns to shoot bats in the mountains and that he was not involved in any criminal activity.
Police said that Kan had purchased three model handguns which he had modified using a drill usually used for applying steel screws to broken bones, among other tools.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had