Thugs Arrested After Kidnapping Taxi Driver in Broad Daylight
A taxi driver was kidnapped at gunpoint in Banciao District by thugs who tortured him with electric shocks, and punched him up before making off with NT$6,000. The incident happened December 11, but was only reported in Taiwan’s Chinese language news media today.
At around noon Monday, a 44 year-old taxi driver named Liao arranged to meet a woman named Lin to pay for ‘overtime services’ owed after Liao had hired Lin to accompany him at a KTV the previous day. However, Lin had hired an underground debt collector named Huang to help her blackmail the driver.
When Lin stopped his cab on Nanya Road and wound the window down to talk to Lin, Huang and another man approached the taxi from behind. One man got into the taxi, drew a handgun, and told Liao to get out. The men led Liao to a white sedan parked behind the cab and punched and kicked him as they pushed him into the car.
Witnesses took down the license plate number and called police as the car sped away.
Huang and his accomplices took Liao to a car park in Sanchong District, where they used an electric shock stick to torture Liao, and took turns to punch him around the head and face until Liao handed over the NT$6,000 he carried on his person. Ms Lin stood by recording the incident on her cellphone.
Leaving Liao in the car park, Huang drove his fellow suspects away, intending to return to his residence in Tucheng District. However, Huang and his friends’ undoing came about when Huang decided to pass by the scene of the original crime. As he passed the scene of the kidnapping on Nanya Road, he was spotted by police, who immediately put out a call, and had Huang’s car surrounded within moments.
Police drew their firearms, and the suspects got out of the car with their hands up. A search of the vehicle turned up what police described as “debt collection tools,” including an air sub-machine gun and revolvers, electric shock sticks, a butterfly knife, knuckledusters, and a watermelon knife.
An investigation found that Mr Huang is a member of the Bamboo Union gang, and holds a position in the China Unification Promotion Party. He owns an “asset management company” that uses violent intimidation to collect debts, and has racked up more than NT$5 million in illegal profits.
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