An agent of the Ministry of Justice's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday was detained for falsely charging two men with smuggling a large number of weapons from the Philippines. A prosecutor who was linked to the scandal will be summoned for questioning at a later date, according to prosecutors in Kaohsiung.
A Chinese-language newspaper yesterday reported that the large number of weapons in Chang Hsi-ming's (張錫銘) possession came from Kaohsiung-based arms-smuggling groups, which had connections to Prosecutor Chen Cheng-ta (陳正達), and a CIB agent, Tsai Jui-shi (蔡俊士), both of whom are under investigation.
"Tsai was detained for having falsely accused two men -- both surnamed Shi -- of smuggling a large number of guns from the Philippines, and were then falsely indicted them," said Lin Ching-tsung (林慶宗), the spokesman for the Kaohsiung prosecutors' Office yesterday.
"Tsai is not only being held on suspicion of falsely charging the two men, but for involvement in smuggling weapons in concert with Kaohsiung gangsters," Lin added.
"Chen, who was in charge of the Shi case and indicted the two men, is himself suspected of being involved in the scandal, so prosecutors might summon him for questioning soon," added Lin.
Chen was transferred from the Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office to the Miaoli Prosecutors' Office earlier this year after the scandal broke out and an investigation was launched. Local newspapers said Chang Hsi-ming's weapons were bought from two Kaohsiung gangsters, surnamed Chen and Hong, who both allegedly smuggled a large number of arms several times from the Philippines to sell in Taiwan.
Chen and Tsai might have some connections to the gangsters and arms smuggling, Chinese-language papers speculated.
"Prosecutors still do not know whether Chang Hsi-ming's arms were from the smuggling gangsters. But Chang had connections with them," Lin added.
Prosecutors said that although Tsai denied having falsely charged the two innocent men, the court decided to detain him yesterday morning.
Prosecutor-General Wu Ying-chao (吳英昭) yesterday said that the scandal was serious and he supported a thorough investigation.
Prosecutors said that in 2003, prosecutor Chen and the agent Chen tracked down cargo at Kaohsiung harbor which contained 50 guns and over 1,000 bullets, and arrested a man surnamed Shi. Later the same year, Chen and Tsai hunted down 49 guns and more than 1,000 bullets at a fishing harbor in Kaohsiung, and arrested another man surnamed Shi.
Chen then indicted the two Shi for arms smuggling.
Chen and Tsai then applied to the Ministry of Justice for rewards given for hunting down a large number of arms, but the ministry had not granted them such a reward by the time the scandal broke out.
Prosecutors suspect the gangsters might have offered Chen and Tsai guns and bullets, helping them bolster the false cases. Prosecutors suspect Chen and Tsai were involved in order to collect rewards from the government.
Both men surnamed Shi then provided evidence to the courts to show that they were falsely incriminated, but their cases are still pending at the courts.
Kaohsiung prosecutors then launched an investigation of the scandal sparked by the two men's testimony in court.
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