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| The New York Times Taiwan Charges 3 in Connection with Chen Shooting By REUTERS Published: September 10, 2004, Filed at 5:10 a.m. ET TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan on Friday charged three men in connection with an election eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian, the first breakthrough in a mysterious shooting the opposition said was staged to win his re-election. The three were charged with possession of homemade bullets that investigators say matched those used in the shooting of Chen while he campaigned on March 19, the day before the presidential election, prosecutors said. Chen's re-election enraged the opposition Nationalists, who said his victory was a result of a wave of sympathy votes following the shooting, and said they suspected the attack was staged. ``The structure of the bullet casings found on these three people match those from the March 19 shooting,'' said Jenny Kuo, a prosecutor in the southern city of Tainan and spokeswoman for a task force investigating the shooting. ``The bullets are related to the March 19 shooting but we can't yet prove the individuals themselves have any connection to the shooting,'' said Kuo. Chen and Vice President Annette Lu were both slightly wounded as they drove through southern Tainan in an open-top jeep. Based on shell casings and a bullet recovered at the scene of the shooting, investigators believe Chen and Lu were shot by homemade bullets fired from a replica pistol altered to fire live ammunition. Acting on a tipoff, police two months ago detained Ho Tun-ching, 50, who was found in possession of a similar pistol as well as six homemade bullets, the prosecutor's office said. The weapon and ammunition were found at Ho's office in a rock quarry. Ho revealed he had acquired the gun and bullets from Ho Chih-chiang, 30, through a friend, Chang Ku-ten, 33, it said. Ho said he needed the gun for protection due to a personal dispute, said the office. Charges had to be brought against the three because they had already been held for two months, which is the limit in Taiwan for holding suspects without pressing charges. Prosecutors said they as yet had no additional proof to link the three men, arrested between May and August in north Taiwan, to the shooting. Police have launched a search for only one possible suspect in the actual shooting, a man believed to be in his 30 or 40s who was shown on video standing in the area from which Chen was shot. The arrests were made as police continue an islandwide crackdown on underground makers of homemade weapons, hauling in more than 1,000 handguns and 5,000 bullets, but police have arrested no one for direct links to the shooting. On Thursday, police raided an underground gun shop in Tainan county, but have not yet determined if it has a link with the shooting, said prosecutors. |