A man on Oct. 25 rode 375km from Pingtung County to New Taipei City on an allegedly stolen scooter because he wanted to get home, but had no money for a train, New Taipei City police said on Monday.
The suspect was identified as a man surnamed Lin (林), 44, whose household registration is in Taipei, but works in Pingtung, the Tucheng Precinct said.
Officers Chang Chia-hsiung (張嘉雄) and Chen En (陳恩) stopped Lin after he allegedly ran a red light in Tucheng District (土城), the precinct said.
The scooter was found to be listed as stolen 10 days earlier after the officers checked its registration, it said.
Lin told police that he missed being home and, being unable to afford a high-speed rail ticket, “unintentionally rode away” with somebody else’s scooter, it said.
The under-seat storage compartment was full of snacks, spare clothes and oil, it said.
The scooter’s owner, a Pingtung man surnamed Yang (楊), said the vehicle is close to 10 years old and is probably worth less than NT$10,000.
“I am amazed that somebody would bother stealing it and more so that he made it to New Taipei City,” Yang said.
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