Coast guard personnel on Sunday detained a man who jumped bail after being convicted of involvement in the beating death of an off-duty police officer outside a Taipei nightclub in 2014.
Kuo Shih-chun (郭士均) was arrested while illegally entering Leiyu Township (烈嶼) in Kinmen County from Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province.
As Kuo was in March sentenced to 11 years in prison, the Fuchien Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday sent him to Kinmen Prison to start serving his sentence.
Taipei police detective Hsueh Chen-kuo (薛貞國) died on Sept. 14, 2014, after being set upon by a group of people outside Spark nightclub in Xinyi District (信義).
The Taiwan Supreme Court in March sentenced 57 people, including Kuo, for their involvement in Hsueh’s death to prison terms of up to 13 years.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office issued a wanted notice for Kuo after he jumped bail and reportedly fled to China.
Coast guard personnel in Kinmen monitoring a radar system on Sunday night picked up suspicious activity by a vessel moving from Xiamen toward the coast of Lieyu and sent officers to inspect the vessel.
A man who initially claimed to be a Chinese national traveling to Kinmen for sightseeing was later found to be Kuo after coast guard personnel searched him and found his Republic of China national identification card, Kinmen Chief Prosecutor Hung Chia-yuan (洪家原) said.
Whether Kuo would be transferred to another prison in Taiwan proper would be discussed if the Taipei prosecutors make a formal request or Kuo files an application, Hung said.
Prosecutors would also investigate Kuo for illegally entering the nation in contravention of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), Hung added.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury