Man involved in dagger incident on high speed train apprehended

Taipei, Nov. 18 (CNA) A man who punched a woman on a northbound Taiwan High Speed Rail train and damaged a tray table with a knife on Saturday has been apprehended and handed over to prosecutors.

At a press conference on Monday, officials from the Railway Police Bureau's Taipei branch said that they arrested the man, identified by his surname Chen (陳), in Nantou on Sunday.

The railway police said that after questioning Chen (陳), they referred the suspect to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office earlier Monday for further investigation on suspicion of threatening members of the public, assault and damaging private property.

The prosecutors office later requested permission from the district court to detain Chen. It explained that the suspect is very likely to having committed offenses including intimidation and assault, and could flee and destroy evidence of his crimes.

As of press time, however, no decision on the detention request had been made.

 Nov. 16: Police hunt for suspect in High Speed Rail dagger incident

On Saturday, Chen was spotted sitting on the floor of the train and blocking its entrance when a female passenger, surnamed Liu (劉), complained to him about blocking the doorway and stepped over him to board the carriage at Miaoli Station.

About one hour later, while the train was traveling between Banqiao Station in New Taipei and Taipei Station, Chen lashed out at Liu in anger and punched her.

He then pulled out a dagger -- about 30 centimeters in length -- from his backpack and stabbed a tray table with it. He then left the knife on the train and fled after arriving at Taipei Station.

Police identified Chen after reviewing CCTV footage and apprehended him in Nantou County on Sunday afternoon.

Authorities said Chen, who is between 40 and 50 years old, resides alone in the central county. After leaving Taipei, he changed clothes several times in an apparent attempt to avoid detection by the police.

The Railway Police Bureau said it would increase the number of patrols to ensure passenger safety.