Mainland to return Chen Shui-bian shooting suspect to Taiwan

The mainland is expected to soon return a Taiwanese suspect involved in the controversial election-eve shooting of then Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian in 2004.

Tang Shou-yi, who sold a gun he made to the alleged gunman and fled to the mainland in 2006, was recently arrested at a hideout in Xiamen by mainland police, Taiwanese media reported yesterday.

He will be sent back to the island before the beginning of the Lunar New Year on February 10 under an agreement signed by Taipei and Beijing in 2010 on joint efforts to crack down on cross-strait crime, the Liberty Times said, quoting an unnamed source.

Taiwanese police said yesterday it was not convenient for them to confirm whether Tang had been arrested in Xiamen or if he would be returned in the next few weeks.

"We have been closely following the case," a member of the Special Investigation Division's 3-19 Shooting Incident task force would only say.

The mysterious shooting took place on March 19, 2004, a day before Taiwanese voters were to choose between the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party's Chen, who was seeking a second term, and the Kuomintang's challenger Lien Chan, a former vice-president.