The nation's top criminal investigation body yesterday announced arrested four people involved in the kidnapping case that resulted in the deaths of three people in Taichung last month.
Two police officers and one of the kidnappers were killed in a shootout after police tried to rescue the hostage.
Officials said one of the suspects remains at large.
"We are still looking for Chang Fu-shun (張富順), who is alleged to be the mastermind of the crime group," said a press release by the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
"We will honor the memory of the two officers killed in the line of duty by trying to arrest Chang as soon as possible."
Among those arrested were 31-year-old Lin Chin-jung (林進榮), Hsu Tien-cheng (許添誠), 29, and Chang Yueh-tong (張岳彤), 25. Officers from the bureau's Sixth Division, Taichung City worked with the police department to locate and arrest the suspects at their residences in Taichung and Chiayi yesterday morning.
The police said the suspects were immediately interrogated after they were arrested and will be transferred to the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office for further interrogation by Chief Prosecutor Hsu Wan-hsiang (許萬相). However, as of press time yesterday, they were still in police custody and interrogation was still taking place.
The investigation showed that the group, allegedly led by Chang Fu-shun, initially planned to kidnap Huang Yung-hsing (黃永興), a local businessman who runs a drinking establishment. The group divided up the kidnapping duties; some working to negotiate and secure the ransom, while others were in charge of identifying the hostage. During the negotiation with Huang family, the crime group haggled over the ransom amount, starting at NT$10 million but eventually agreeing to lower the price to NT$5.6 million.
They made a deal with the Huang family to pick up the ransom on June 16. While Shih and Huang showed up to pick up the money, Chang was monitoring Huang Yung-hsing but decided to let him go after the police arrived.
Yesterday's arrests bring the number to five in connection with the kidnapping. One kidnapper was arrested at the crime scene on June 16. When police tried to arrest the kidnappers last month in Taichung, a gun battle injured Detective Lin Wen-wu (林文武) and killed Sergeant Yeh His-tsai (
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