Compiled by C.ARUNO AND ZAKIAH KOYA
HE was supposed to return to Malaysia after one final job as a money mule, but was arrested in Taiwan a day before his flight following a tip-off, reported China Press.
The 25-year-old Malaysian, whose surname is Hong, reportedly took a job in Taiwan in early September that required him to withdraw funds from ATMs and hand them over to his employers.
However, while withdrawing cash from a bank in Beidou town in Changhua county, he was seen constantly peering over his shoulder.
His actions aroused suspicion among bank customers, one of whom alerted police.
When police officers arrived, Hong tried to run but was apprehended.
Officers opened his backpack and found three stacks of NT$1,000 bills totalling more than NT$120,000 (about RM16,719).
Police investigations showed that Hong entered Taiwan as a tourist and allowed his personal bank account to be used by a scam syndicate.
Whenever scam victims transferred money into his account, the syndicate would instruct him to withdraw the cash from ATMs and hand it over to members of the group.
Hong used the opportunity to travel from northern to southern Taiwan over a span of two weeks.
He had planned to complete one last job in Beidou town before flying back to Malaysia on Sept 19, but was arrested the day before.
Local police warned the public that such syndicates often lured foreigners to Taiwan with promises of high-paying jobs or travel opportunities, then use them as money mules.
> A man travelling by high-speed rail in Hubei, China, was perplexed to find his seat cushion missing despite having reserved the seat, reported China Press.
The incident took place on Sept 15 when the man boarded the train in Wuhan city and walked to his seat at 3F on board carriage 11.
To his surprise, the seat had no cushion, only a metal frame.
As it was rush hour, the train crew were occupied and the man left his reserved seat to find another.
During his search, the man noticed two middle-aged women squatting in the carriage and both of them were holding large sacks.
Inside the sacks, the man noticed, were cushions identical to the ones on board the train.
It was later learnt that the women held standing tickets. Believed to be unwilling to stand the whole journey, they removed the seat cushions so that they could squat more comfortably.
The incident sparked heated discussion online on the women’s behaviour, with many calling it an act of vandalism.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
