DESPERATE MEASURES:Police said the suspect, Shih Yung-hsiang, robbed a bank to pay off hundreds of thousands in gambling debt from playing ‘tian jiu pai’
Taipei Times
Date: Mar 27, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Police raided a house in Kaohsiung yesterday morning and arrested a man suspected of involvement with a bank hold-up on Friday, when a bank clerk was threatened with a gun and NT$900,000 (US$27,468) in cash was stolen.
Kaohsiung City Police Department officials said they are questioning Shih Yung-hsiang (施永祥), 30, over the heist at the CTBC Bank in the city’s Nanzih District (楠梓).
At Shih’s house, an air pistol and NT$420,000 in cash were recovered, along with other evidence, Nanzih Police Precinct investigation unit chief Lin Keng-yu (林耕宇) said.
Shih said he had carried out the robbery because he had gambling debts of more than NT$1 million, police said.
Shih said he had used the money to pay some of his debts and planned to use the remaining NT$420,000 to pay other creditors. [FULL STORY]