Suspected drug dealer Chen Fu-hsiang (陳福祥) was captured yesterday morning in Panchiao, Taipei County, after fleeing from police custody and evading capture for 35 days.
Along with Chen, four of Chen's companions -- Chang Chia-juei (
According to Taipei Municipal Police Department Director Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞), Chen Fu-hsiang and the others were apprehended in Panchiao while the fugitives were searching for new hide-out.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Wang said that Chen Fu-hsiang had admitted that Chang was the mastermind behind the escape.
"And to the best of our knowledge [after interrogating Chen Fu-hsiang], no police officers were involved in aiding Chen Fu-hsiang's escape either by collaboration or intentional negligence of their duties," Wang said at a press conference held by the department to address the case.
Accompanied by three JPB police officers on Aug. 19 to a restaurant in Taipei's Wanhua district to meet a friend of Chen's, Chen, whose hands and feet were cuffed, fled from police custody after group of men showed up and assaulted the police with fire extinguishers.
Wang Cho-chun said that police are also on the look-out for three suspects who are still at large and helped with Chen's escape.
"We are also taking the case further to check whether Chen Fu-hsiang and the others were involved in any other criminal cases, aside from ones we already know about," Wang added.
Chen Fu-hsiang, 25, had a lengthy criminal record with charges ranging from illegal drug trafficking to selling illegal firearms.
The Taipei Prosecutors Office is now taking over Chen Fu-hsiang's case.
Upon learning of Chen Fu-hsiang's arrest, Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Chen Fu-hsiang's case should teach the police force that all precautions must be considered to avoid providing an opportunity for a suspect to escape, Ma said at the city government's periodic meeting on public order.
Although police were partially at fault for their careless judgement, Ma said that based on Chen Fu-hsiang's statement and other relevant police information, the police have been cleared of intentionally collaborating with suspects.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
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.
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
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry