Seven Taoyuan police officers are under investigation on suspicion of freeing an alleged local gangster and a man on the wanted list, as well as embezzling gamblers’ stake money after they raided an illegal casino in February, Taoyuan prosecutors said.
Wu Hsiao-lung (吳小龍), a police officer with Jhongli Police Station in the county, led six police officers in a raid on an illegal casino in Jhongli City on Feb. 2.
Prosecutors said police officers arrested casino operator Tsai Yi-hsien (蔡乙賢), six casino staff and 33 gamblers and seized NT$600,000 (US$20,040) in stakes.
However, prosecutors added that the Taoyuan police authority later received complaints that reputed gangster Wang Chang-fu (王長富) and a man on the wanted list were able to walk out of the casino without being arrested.
The seven police officers were subsequently sent to prosecutors for investigation.
According to prosecutors, the complaints alleged that at that time of the raid, Wang had a short talk with Liu Chan-yi (劉展譯) then led him quickly downstairs from the second floor and left the casino. Liu is a chief suspect in a fraud group and is on the wanted list.
The complaints said Wu and his colleagues freed Wang and Liu and might have embezzled some of the stakes, prosecutors said.
Chief of Taoyuan Police Station’s Supervision Department Chou Wei-ting (周威廷) said Wu and the six officers were under investigation for the offense of freeing suspects, which is punishable by a prison term of between one and seven years.
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