Chen Ping-teng, 43, was arrested after he tossed 1&nbsol000 Taiwanese dollar (US$30) notes from the window of a taxi on a highway in central Taiwan. The taxi driver, suspecting Chen was the same man who threw money from a taxi on the highway on Tuesday, causing traffic jams and triggering a police probe, drove Chen to a police station and handed him over to police. During police questioning, Chen – who seemed to be mentally disturbed – admitted he has thrown an unknown amount of money across the island several times, including throwing 500&nbsol000 Taiwan dollars in 1&nbsol000 Taiwan dollar notes on the highway on Tuesday.

Taiwan press gave wide coverage of Tuesday’s incident as some drivers, seeing Chen throwing money out of the taxi, pulled over to pick up the money, posing a hazard to other cars. Chen said he’d made four million Taiwan dollars from selling an apartment and wanted to give away part of it because he had been possessed by ghosts and couldn’t sleep at night. Police found 920 000 Taiwan dollars in 1 000 Taiwan dollar notes in two dark plastic bags Chen was holding. The edge of some bills had been burnt. Police turned Chen over for prosecution on charges of destroying national currency and disrupting traffic. – Sapa

 

(editor) Hey – throw some my way!