Taiwan MPs slammed over bogus campus drill
Two MPs who falsely reported a mass kidnapping at a prestigious Taiwanese university to test preparedness in the wake of the US school shooting could face a year in prison, an official said today.
Dozens of policemen equipped with machine guns stormed the campus of Taipei’s National Taiwan University yesterday after the MPs called in a report that two men had abducted 30 students.
Lee Chen-nan and Lin Kuo-ching, both of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said they staged the drill to test the school’s reaction to an emergency situation, following the shooting of 32 students and staff at the Virginia Tech campus on Monday.
Government spokeswoman Chen Mei-ling said authorities will decide whether the MPs would be indicted on charges of falsely reporting a crime, an offense that carries a maximum one-year jail term.
“We disagree with and condemn the MPs ... for putting on a show that required school officials and police to become involved, causing disturbances and unease at the campus,” Chen said in a statement.
Taiwan has no history of violent attacks at schools or colleges. Access to firearms is strictly controlled and they are extremely difficult to obtain on the black market.
