TAIPEI: Two Taiwanese gunrunners suspected of involvement in the smuggling of more than 100 guns last week were deported from Singapore Thursday, one day after their arrest.
The two were named as Liao Wei-tsang (廖緯蒼), 30, an important cadre in a faction of the Bamboo Union organized crime gang, and Tseng Meng-han (曾孟瀚), 22, the Apple Daily reported.
Before the details of the operation were made public, Taiwanese media already spoke of “two mystery guests” on board a China Airlines flight from Singapore to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Thursday afternoon.
The case goes back to last Friday, when police in Sanxia, New Taipei City, found 109 guns and more than 12,000 rounds of ammunition in a container rented by a man they succeeded in arresting.
However, the two potential buyers had escaped, the Apple Daily reported. They had first traveled to Macau on April 29, but on the day they had planned to return to Taiwan, May 5, they heard the news about police seizing the guns.
Liao and Tseng decided to fly to Malaysia and then on to Singapore on May 7. However, when police suspected their involvement, they also canceled the duo’s passports, followed by their arrest by Singaporean police on Wednesday.
The leader of the smuggling operation, a man from Banqiao, New Taipei City, surnamed Lin, was still on the run, while police did not exclude the existence of a mastermind operating behind the scenes, according to the Apple Daily.
