The China Post staff
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday busted a 15-member crime ring allegedly extorting money from 10-odd famous local food manufacturers by threatening to poison their products, CIB officials said.
Following a month-long investigation, the police yesterday arrested the ring's mastermind Liao Chun-yi, 30, and his girlfriend Lin Yu-shih, 29, in Changhwa, central Taiwan, and other suspects in Taichung City, Taichung County and Taipei County.
The ring had reportedly extorted hundreds of thousands of New Taiwan dollars from at least six brand-name food makers by posting photos of alleged poisoned food on the Internet and then sending e-mails to victims under the name of "Master of Disguise" asking them to see the photos.
"The victims continued to receive harassing phone calls from the suspects even after they paid the money. This is a serious challenge to law and order," CIB officials said.
The ring was also suspected of involvement in credit card fraud, extortion of ransom with fake kidnappings and loan frauds.
The police also found that Lin Yu-shih's younger brother Lin Chen-hsueh and his girlfriend Chang Hui-ju jointly operated a karaoke house as a base for undertaking illegal operations.
In addition, the ring rented surrogate bank accounts at the cost of NT$1,000 per account, to facilitate money remittances by victims.
CIB officials urged the blackmailed food makers to join forces with the police to attack the new crime practice.
The suspects will be interrogated by the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office and then prosecuted on charges of blackmail and extortion.
Yesterday's arrests came two weeks after a man was sentenced to death for poisoning popular energy drinks Bullwild and Polyta B with cyanide in an extortion attempt that killed one person and injured three.
The poisoner, Wang Chin-chan, poisoned nine bottles of Bullwild and two bottles of Polyta B. Closed-circuit television cameras recorded Wang putting the 11 tainted drinks at 11 different stores.
In order to prevent other incidents of tampering or blackmail, the Taichung District Court decided to give Wang the death penalty based on three major reasons. One was that the data in Wang's notebook PC showed he was fully aware that cyanide could take human lives. Second was that the volume of cyanide placed by Wang in the drinks was enough to kill the drinker. And the third was that during the investigation and trial, Wang himself showed that he was clearly aware of the deadliness of cyanide.