Taiwan in Time: the double bank car robberies

Two bank security vehicles carrying millions in cash were carjacked within a year, leading police to believe the crimes were linked

• By Han Cheung / Contributing Reporter

December 2 to December 8

It was the largest robbery in Taiwanese history at the time.

On the afternoon of December 7, 1982, two masked men armed with M16 assault rifles knocked out the driver of a United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華銀行) security van, netting them NT$14 million (about NT today worth $30 million). ). The van was parked behind a post office on Taipei’s Minsheng E Road when the robbers struck, and despite the post office being packed with customers, no one inside noticed the brazen theft.

Photo courtesy of the National Central Library

“Criminals robbing a bank vehicle are only seen in American Westerns, but yesterday this scene happened on the streets of Taipei,” said a United Daily News editorial. “In Taiwan, previously a place of law and order, people are now robbing banks, bank vans and post offices. This is a serious problem that goes beyond whether the police can solve these cases or not.”

Eight months earlier, Taiwan witnessed its first armed bank robbery when Lee Shih-ke (李師科) made off with approximately NT$5.3 million from the Land Bank of Taiwan’s Guting branch (see “Taiwan in Time: The robber in the sanitary mask ”, April 2012). 9, 2017). And on the same day as the robbery, armed men stormed the Chiayi District Court in broad daylight and freed a prisoner.

“There are two reasons for this wave of crimes: the collapsing economy and society’s trend towards extravagance; the pursuit of material pleasures is fashionable,” the editorial said.

Photo courtesy of the National Central Library

Police arrested the perpetrators 163 days later and discovered that it was linked to another robbery committed last year in Taichung’s Shalu district (沙鹿). The eight men involved in both cases were executed on July 29, 1983.

FIRST ROBBERY

Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s Shalu branch usually transported cash in their own truck. But the vehicle was unavailable on November 24, 1981 when they had to move NT$6.8 million to another location, and they called a reputable local taxi service to do the job.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

According to the Office of Historical Suspense Investigation and Research (重大歷史懸疑案件調查辦公室), this was not unusual at the time, as bank security was generally lax. Violent crimes such as theft, kidnapping and rape were punishable by death under martial law.

The taxi was halfway to its destination when a light blue sedan, which had been following it, suddenly blocked the road. Four men armed with knives jumped out, threatened the driver, snatched the car keys, forced the passengers out of the car and then drove the taxi away. The whole ordeal lasted five minutes.

The subsequent investigation led police to Su Chun-mo (蘇俊模), who belonged to an influential local family, and arrested him along with five other suspects 25 days after the crime. Su admitted that he had large gambling debts and had been planning the heist for about a year. They were all sentenced to death by a military court.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Such crimes were unprecedented in Taiwan; so when the United World Chinese Commercial Bank truck was hijacked just over a year later, the police were seriously alarmed. Was this a copycat, or were the two things connected?

COLD CASE

The second robbery proved more difficult to solve because Taipei was much larger than Shalu and CCTV cameras were not common at the time. The United Daily News reported that police suspected it was an inside job, as the schedule and route of the bank’s cash transport were known only to upper management. The robbers even knew when the post office guards had finished work and chose exactly the right moment to strike.

The truck was intended to pick up cash at eight stops and then return to the bank; the post office was the sixth stop. The driver, who was not allowed to leave the vehicle, was standing next to it waiting for his colleague to collect money from the post office when he was struck in the neck with a long object in a canvas bag. In his dazed state, he vaguely saw the two men pull out an assault rifle and yell at the few people at the scene to freeze before driving away. Some postal workers gave chase, but lost sight of the vehicle.

The police had only one clue: a scooter. However, it turned out to be stolen and the serial number had been removed. No fingerprints were found on the vehicle, which led the police to conclude that it was a carefully planned job.

Meanwhile, Su and his cronies lived in prison because his family had bribed the staff. He even paid a doctor to let him out of the hospital and seek treatment for acute otitis, using the clinic for meetings with his girlfriend. Yet death was near.

In early 1983, Su smuggled a saw into his cell, patiently worked on the bars bit by bit, and escaped in April with five other prisoners. While on the run, they managed to obtain an M16 rifle, but were found by police seven days later and sent back to prison after a brief gunfight.

MATCHING RIFLES

The involvement of an M16 in both incidents further convinced police that they were linked. After searching Su’s hideout, they found a canvas bag matching the description of the bag the United World Chinese Commercial Bank robbers used to hide the M16.

After interrogating the prisoners of the Shalu Incident and information from secret witnesses, they turned their attention to Yu Jung-chia (游榮佳), who was Su’s uncle.

They soon discovered that Yu, who had a long criminal record, had spent lavishly. His home address was also very close to the place where the scooter was stolen. Eventually, one of Su’s cohorts succumbed to the pressure and told the police about Yu’s involvement. Yu and another alleged accomplice, Chen Kun-huo (陳坤火), were arrested in May 1983 and after intense interrogation both admitted to the crime.

Yu later told reporters that part of his motive was to provide for Su’s legal fees and escape, as the Su family had already spent a lot of money on the case. Su had helped Yu financially in the past and felt obligated to return the favor.

He claimed to have given the Su family a total of NT$4 million, with NT$500,000 going directly to Su after he escaped from prison. As for Chen, he said he needed money for his upcoming wedding. According to Yu, the M16 was provided by a relative of Su, and after the robbery they returned it to the family, who gave it to Su when he escaped.

All eight robbers faced the firing squad on the same day. According to the United Daily News, Yu seemed the most contrite, as he left behind a wife and a one-year-old child. In his last words, he told his friends to take care of his family and urged his wife to teach his son well so that he would not follow the same path.

Taiwan in Time, a column on Taiwan’s history published every Sunday, highlights important or interesting events across the country that have an anniversary this week or are related to current events.