The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday decided not to charge a US citizen arrested on Nov. 14 last year at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for having 100 rounds of ammunition in his carry-on backpack.
Yu, a US citizen of Taiwanese descent, was reportedly boarding a flight to Vancouver, Canada, when airport police discovered two boxes in his backpack, each containing 50 rounds of .22 long rifle rimfire ammunition.
The ammunition can be used in rifles and handguns. It is popular for target practice and among small-game hunters, but is regarded as too low-powered for other applications.
The man said he bought the ammunition legally from an outdoor supply shop near his home in Washington State, carried it to a range for recreational shooting and forgot about it, later using the same pack to travel, police said.
Yu said that he had removed other boxes of ammunition from his pack prior to his flight, but missed the remaining two and provided a receipt as evidence, the police report said.
The prosecutors’ office said it decided not to press charges against Yu, as criminal intent to smuggle ammunition into the nation could not be proven.
Yu was carrying an oversized backpack with no internal compartments and it was plausible that the small boxes could have been overlooked when he was cleaning out the pack’s contents, as Yu had claimed, the office said.
That the boxes were full and showed no sign of disturbance seemed to imply that they had never been opened or used, which supported Yu’s sworn statement, the office said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
RSS