Police are looking for a man surnamed Su (蘇) in connection with the execution-style killing of two men in Taoyuan believed to be connected to a money dispute.
Police yesterday said that preliminary findings pointed to Su, 36, who has a previous conviction for property damage.
There are likely to be accomplices in the killings, which took place on Thursday night, police added.
The bodies of two men, surnamed Yang (楊), 28, and Chen (陳), 27, were found in an apartment suite on Taoyuan’s Zhonghua Road, police officials said.
Each had a bullet wound in the head and likely were shot at close range, they said.
Su was identified from surveillance camera footage, which showed him walking up stairs to meet Yang and Chen in the apartment, police said, adding that three other people — who reported the killings — were in the room when Su arrived.
He entered and departed the building alone carrying what might have been a handgun in a plastic bag, police said.
Su apparently knew Yang and Chen, as telephone records showed he had called them to arrange a meeting on Thursday evening, police said, adding that he told the three other people in the room to leave.
When the three people returned after a few hours, they found the bodies and called the police.
Preliminary findings indicated that Su was a hired by gangsters to kill Yang and Chen over suspicion that they pocketed money from a fraud operation, police said.
Taoyuan Prosecutor Liu Wei-hung (劉威宏), who is leading the investigation, said that Su likely was hired and had accomplices, as video footage showed he made a phone call as he left the building and was picked up by others in a car.
Police are tracing Su’s contacts and checking his phone records, Liu said.
In other news, family members said they do not believe information released by Cambodian police saying that three Taiwanese men found dead with bullet wounds in an apartment in Phnom Penh were killed in a murder-suicide incident.
Reports from Cambodia said that Phnom Penh police on Sunday found the three bodies, and recovered a Glock 19 pistol and 41 bullets at the apartment.
Taiwanese authorities later said that the three men, surnamed Lin (林), Yeh (葉) and Cheng (程), were from Tainan and had criminal records with involvement in organized crime.
The three men traveled to Cambodia separately this year, with people who knew them saying they worked for telecom scam groups and possibly human trafficking operations.
A man surnamed Hsu (徐), an uncle of one of the three, told reporters he did not believe the information released by the Cambodian police.
“The three were good friends, with Lin seen as the elder brother who took care of them well,” Hsu said. “The other two respected Lin and helped each other to live and work in Cambodia.”
“When they were in Taiwan, they were often together and I never saw them quarreling, so it is not likely that they would fight over a woman then kill themselves,” he said. “They must have opened the door to someone they knew who turned out to be a killer.”
Forensic expert Kao Ta-cheng (高大成) said that the report from the Cambodian police changed several times, with their initial report being a killing due to a dispute over money, likely involving drug trafficking.
Photographs from the scene that were circulated online also indicate that the murder-suicide idea is flawed, Kao said.
“If they were shooting at each other, the bodies would not have fallen the way they are shown,” he said.
“Most suicides are performed in a kneeling position,” he said, adding that there were no signs of fighting in the room.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with