Chinese police question ex-student about Taiwan bomb threats

中國警方就台灣炸彈威脅問題審問前學生

CIB denies suspect admitted sending threatening e-mails


UPDATE May 25, 03:50 p.m. with Taiwan CIB denying Zhang admitted guilt.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese man who studied in Taiwan was questioned by Chinese police about a spate of recent bomb threats, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday (May 25).

Taiwan has been plagued by a series of mostly idle bomb threats against railway stations, museums, national parks, and other crowded locations. Investigators named the chief suspect in most of the cases as Zhang Haichuan (張海川), a former Chinese student in Taiwan.

China’s Public Security Bureau (PSB) summoned him for questioning on May 5, according to an NPA report presented to the Legislative Yuan. He denied having used the account of a former legislator to make the threats, per CNA.

However, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) denied earlier media reports that Zhang had admitted being behind most of the bomb threats, per Radio Taiwan International (RTI). The CIB said it had asked the PSB to continue its investigation and to inform Taiwan of its progress.

According to data from the Ministry of Justice, this year so far the CIB has investigated 258 bomb threats, and district prosecutors 83, the Liberty Times reported. Officials said Zhang was the chief suspect in most of the cases handled by prosecutors.

Zhang had been charged in Taiwan, but was allowed to leave the country after his research work. Lawmakers faulted the authorities for letting him leave Taiwan, CNA reported.

The similarity of the e-mailed threats, including the use of virtual private networks (VPN) to change location and mislead investigators, caused investigators to focus on Zhang as the chief suspect, the NPA said. Recent targets included the National Palace Museum in Taipei City, Shou Shan Zoo in Kaohsiung City, and Leofoo Village Theme Park in Hsinchu County.

The NPA said it would continue to use judicial cooperation channels with China to conduct the investigation. It is not known what happened to Zhang following the May 5 questioning.