Taiwan in Time: The Double Bank Car Thefts

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

• By Han Cheung / Contributing Reporter

December 2 – December 8

It was the largest theft in Taiwan’s history at the time.

On the afternoon of December 7, 1982, two masked men armed with M16 assault rifles hit the driver of a United Commercial Bank of China (世華銀行) security van, making off with US$14 million (worth about 30 million USD today). ). The truck had been parked behind a post office on Taipei’s Minsheng E Road when the thieves struck, and despite the post office being packed with customers, no one inside had noticed the mad robbery.

Photo courtesy of the Central National Library

“Criminals robbing a bank truck is something we only see in American westerns, but yesterday this scene played out on the streets of Taipei,” said a United Daily News editorial. “In Taiwan, once 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 witnessed its first armed bank robbery, when Lee Shih-ke (李師科) made off with approximately NT$5.3 million from the Guting branch of the Land Bank of Taiwan (see “Taiwan in Time: The robber in the sanitary mask”, April 9, 2017). And on the same day as the robbery, armed men entered the Chiayi District Court in broad daylight and broke out an inmate.

“There are two reasons for this crime wave: the collapsing economy and society’s tendency toward extravagance; the pursuit of material pleasures is in vogue,” the editorial says.

Photo courtesy of the Central National Library

Police apprehended the culprits 163 days later, discovering that he was linked to another robbery committed the previous year in Taichung’s Shalu District (沙鹿). The eight men involved in both cases were executed on 29 July 1983.

THE FIRST FORT

The Shalu branch of Taiwan Cooperative Bank usually carried cash in its own truck. But the vehicle was not available on November 24, 1981, when they had to move $6.8 million to another location and called a reputable local taxi service to do the job.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

According to the Historical Suspense Investigation and Research Office (手机歷史懸疑标准調查辦公室), this was not unusual in those days, as the bank’s security was generally lax. After all, violent crimes like robbery, kidnapping, and rape were punishable by death under martial law.

The taxi was halfway to its destination when a light blue sedan following it suddenly blocked its path. 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 took five minutes.

Further investigation led the 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 murder. Su admitted he was heavily in gambling debt and had been planning the theft for about a year. All were sentenced to death by a military tribunal.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Such crimes were unprecedented in Taiwan; so when the United Commercial Bank of China truck was carjacked over a year later, the police were very alarmed. Was it a copycat or were the two cases linked?

COLD CASE

The second theft proved more difficult to solve because Taipei was much larger than Shalu and CCTV cameras were not common then. The United Daily News reported that police suspected it was an inside job because the bank’s cash flow schedule and route were known only to senior management. The robbers even knew when the postal guards were off duty and picked just the right moment to strike.

The truck was meant to pick up cash from eight stops and then return to the bank; the post office was the sixth stop. The driver, who was not required to leave the vehicle, was standing next to it waiting for his colleague to retrieve money from the post office when he was struck in the back of the head with a long object in a canvas bag. In his dazed state, he vaguely saw the two men pull an assault rifle out of their bag, yelling at the few people on the scene to freeze before speeding away. Several 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 was removed. No fingerprints could be found on the vehicle, leading police to conclude it was a carefully planned job.

Meanwhile, Su and his cohorts were living in prison because his family was bribing the staff. He even paid a doctor to take him out of the hospital to seek treatment for acute otitis media, using the clinic for dates with his girlfriend. Still, death was near.

In early 1983, Su smuggled a saw into his cell, patiently worked the bars, and in April escaped with five other inmates. They managed to acquire an M16 rifle while on the run, but were found by police seven days later and sent back to prison after a brief gun battle.

GUNS OF POSSIBILITY

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 one the United World Chinese Commercial Bank thieves used to hide the M16.

After questioning the inmates 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, spent lavishly. His home address was also very close to where the scooter was stolen. Eventually, one of Su’s cohorts cracked under 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 intensive interrogation, both confessed to the crime.

Yu later told reporters that part of his reason was to ensure Su’s legal expenses 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 compelled 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 needs money for his upcoming wedding. According to Yu, the M16 was provided by a relative of Su’s, and after the theft they returned it to the family, who gave it to Su once he escaped.

All eight robbers faced the firing squad on the same day. Yu seemed the most contrite, according to United Daily News, 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 educate her son well so that he would not follow the same path.

Taiwan in Time, a Taiwanese history column published every Sunday, highlights important or interesting events across the nation that either have anniversaries this week or are related to current events.