Armed robbers arrested after fleeing at the sight of blood
Two men were arrested today after an attempted armed robbery of a taxi driver in Shuangxi District, New Taipei City in the early hours of the morning.
Two unemployed residents of the rural Ruifang and Shuangxi districts, a 25-year-old man named Huang, and a 27-year-old named Lin, hatched a plan to obtain some money to tide them over the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays.
At around midnight last night, Huang hailed a taxi at the Ruifang train station and asked the driver to take him to a location in Shuangxi District. Lin followed the taxi on a scooter on which the pair planned to make a getaway after the robbery.
While traveling on a remote mountain road with little traffic, Huang told the driver that he had an urgent need to urinate, and asked him to pull over. When the driver complied, Huang pulled a combat knife, put it to the driver’s neck, and demanded he hand over the money.
The taxi driver, Mr Zhang, resisted and was cut on the neck. As blood spurted from the wound, splattering onto Huang’s jacket, Huang panicked, gave up his robbery attempt, and fled from the vehicle.
Mr Zhang, covering the wound with his hand, drove more than 20 kilometers to the Ruifang Police Station to report the incident.
Police sent Zhang to hospital, while forming an investigation team to identify and locate the suspects.
Police investigators used traffic monitor footage to trace the suspects. After their arrest, Huang said that he had accidentally cut Zhang’s neck during the robbery attempt.
The suspects told police where they had discarded the weapon. However, while investigators found two bloodstained jackets at the location, they are yet to locate the knife.
Lin and Huang were handed over to the Keelung District Prosecutor’s Office to face charges of attempted murder, and attempted robbery.
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Sources: Liberty Times Network, United Daily News, Apple Daily.
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