Senior New Taipei City police officials have ordered a special taskforce to track down a suspect related to a bomb threat made at a post-season baseball game at Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium on Tuesday, vowing to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the incident.
New Taipei City Police Commissioner Hu Mu-yuan (胡木源) yesterday said that police units found a stash of assorted fireworks and explosive firecrackers weighing more than 120kg by a pond adjacent to the ballpark, behind the outfield stands, and questioned a contractor surnamed Lee (李), who was in charge of the stash.
Hu said police officers confiscated the fireworks and issued a fine for violating the Firework and Firecracker Management Act (爆竹煙火管理條例), as Lee did not apply for a permit at his local fire department and violated the 5kg limit.
However, Hu and other New Taipei City police officials said that after a preliminary investigation they have ruled out links between Lee and a bomb threat made on Tuesday.
Hu said that a phone call was received at 7:50am, with the unidentified caller saying: “You people be careful, someone will plant a bomb at the ballpark during tonight’s game.”
After alerting top officials, New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) personally supervised a security operation, mobilizing police units, supported by sniffer dogs and bomb squad units, to search the ballpark.
In addition to facing public safety issues related to the protection of a 12,500 capacity crowd at the ballpark, the issue became a top priority because first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) was to attend the game, along with Brothers Baseball Club chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) from the prominent Koo family, who has majority share of CTBC Financial Co (中信金控), and several New Taipei City politicians.
No bomb was found.
Police and league officials continued to question Lee, who said the Brothers paid him for his task, as he was told to set off the explosives when a home run was hit, and to standby to ignite fireworks under special instructions.
According to the Chinese-language China Times, police said the league’s anti-gambling committee is also investigating the incident.
The setting off of fireworks was in the past used as a signal for coopted players involved in fixing, whereby they purposely gave up runs to cover betting spreads set by underground gambling syndicates.
Such scandals have tainted Taiwanese professional baseball for the past two decades.
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