Taiwan in time: twin bank car robberies

Two bank security vehicles carrying millions in cash were stolen during the year, leading police to believe the crimes were linked

• Author: Han Cheung / Contributing Reporter

December 2 to December 8

At the time, it was the largest robbery in Taiwan’s history.

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

Photo courtesy of the Central National Library

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

Eight months earlier, Taiwan had experienced its first armed bank robbery when Lee Shih-ke (李師科) absconded from the Land Bank of Taiwan branch in Guting with approximately NT$5.3 million (see “Taiwan in Time: A Thief in sanitary mask”, April 9, 2017). On the same day as the attack, the attackers broke into the district court in Chiayi in broad daylight and kidnapped the detainee.

“There are two causes of this avalanche of crimes: economic collapse and social tendency to extravagance; the pursuit of material pleasures is in fashion,” we read in the editorial.

Photo courtesy of the Central National Library

Police arrested the perpetrators 163 days later and discovered it was related to another robbery committed a year earlier in Shalu District (沙鹿) in Taichung. Eight men involved in both cases were executed on July 29, 1983.

THE FIRST ROBBERY

The Shalu Branch of Taiwan Cooperative Bank usually transported cash in its own truck. However, on November 24, 1981, a vehicle was not available when they needed to transport NT$6.8 million to another location, so they called a reputable local taxi company to do the job.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

According to the Historical Tension Research and Research Authority (重大歷史懸疑案件調查辦公室), this was not uncommon at the time as bank security was generally lax. After all, during martial law, brutal crimes such as robbery, kidnapping and rape were punishable by death.

The taxi was halfway to its destination when a light blue sedan behind it suddenly blocked its path. Four men armed with knives jumped out of the car, threatened the driver, grabbed the car keys, threw the passengers out of the car, and then drove away in a taxi. The entire ordeal lasted five minutes.

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 he had large gambling debts and had been planning the robbery for about a year. All were sentenced to death by a military court.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Such crimes were unprecedented in Taiwan; so when a United World Chinese Commercial Bank truck was hijacked just over a year later, police were very concerned. Was it a copycat or were the two cases related?

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 because the schedule and route for transporting the cash from the bank was known only to senior management. The robbers even knew when post office guards were finishing their work and chose the right moment to attack.

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

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

Meanwhile, Su and his cohorts endured life in prison because his family bribed the staff. He even paid a doctor to discharge him from hospital for treatment of an acute ear infection, using the clinic to have trysts with his girlfriend. Still, death was near.

In early 1983, Su smuggled a saw into his cell, patiently worked on the bars, and in April escaped with five other prisoners. While escaping, they managed to get an M16 rifle, but seven days later the police found them and after a short shootout they were sent to prison.

MATCHING RIFLES

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

After interrogating those detained in connection with the Shalu incident and obtaining 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, was spending lavishly. His home address was also very close to where the scooter was stolen. Eventually, one of Su’s cohorts collapsed under the pressure and told the cops 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 confessed to the crime.

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

He claimed to have donated a total of NT$4 million to Su’s family, of which NT$500,000 went 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’s, and after the robbery they returned it to the family, who gave it to Su after his escape.

All eight bandits faced a firing squad on the same day. According to the United Daily News, Yu seemed the most contrite because he left behind a wife and a one-year-old child. In his last words, he ordered 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 Taiwan history column published every Sunday, highlights important and interesting events across the country that either have anniversaries this week or are related to current events.