Man with knife handle sticking out of pocket on Taipei MRT arrested

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) Taipei police arrested a man who sparked panic on the Taipei Metro in the early hours of Sunday after boarding a train at Zhongshan Station with a knife visibly sticking out of his breast pocket.

The Taipei Police Department's Datong Precinct said it received a call at 12:15 a.m. Sunday about a male passenger carrying a knife at MRT Zhongshan Station, and immediately dispatched officers to the scene.

Upon investigating, police found that passengers had used the intercom to report Song to the train's driver after he entered a carriage with a fruit knife tucked in his breast pocket with the handle sticking out.

The train's driver informed the station manager, who, along with security guards, boarded the train and asked Song to come to the station's service counter.

Police officers who arrived at the station searched Song and found a second fruit knife in his possession, the precinct said.

According to police sources, Song said he was returning to his home in Beitou after meeting with friends near Taipei 101 Station.

The 31-year-old claimed he was carrying the knives for self-protection and to peel fruit, police sources said.

After questioning Song at a police station, police determined that he had not brandished the knife or tried to harm anyone and released him.

Song was referred to the Taipei District Court to be fined for carrying a hazardous item without justifiable reasons under Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act, police said.

Song's actions came at a time of heightened sensitivity around MRT security, after a 27-year-old man killed three people in an indiscriminate knife attack at MRT Taipei Main Station and near MRT Zhongshan Station on Dec. 19.