TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Police are hunting for a man who calls himself "Protect Sharks Man" after he issued a threat on social media that he would poison customers eating shark fin in restaurants across Taiwan.
In a YouTube video posted on Jan. 28 and also uploaded to his Facebook page on Jan. 29, the 32-year-old, who identifies himself as Shih Po-han (施伯瀚), first announces the "successful' completion of his first phase, which was to send severed hands representing shark fins to sellers of shark meat to "scare and threaten them."
Shih then announces that as part of his second phase, he has summoned his 1,300 "Sharkfin Gladiators" to join him in placing a poison inside shark fin soup (魚翅羹), so that all those who eat the dish in all restaurants in Taiwan will ingest the toxin.
He said that he will not follow any laws because the shark fin sellers are themselves breaking the law and because he is convinced that his cause is just.
He reminded that his followers that Weiya (尾牙, Lunar New Year parties) are coming up and he will be sending them a very strong poison that will not cause people to die immediately, but will instead inflict "chronic suffering and torture."
Shih ominously concludes the video by saying, "Remember, shark fins are just like hands. Cutting them off is just like cutting off a hand. I can also go and cut off your hand. Sellers of shark fins listen up, I want your hands and your lives."
Profile photo on Shih's Facebook page.
Police are now searching for the man as they believe his video constitutes an act of criminal threatening, reported Liberty Times. They are also investigating his connection behind a slew of plastic severed hands covered in red paint delivered to merchants throughout the country in July of last year, including 11 businesses on Taipei's Dihua Street, an area where many dried seafood goods are sold, according to the report.
In previous years Shih used less menacing tactics to get his message across including dressing in a shark costume and dancing with scantily-clad models, carrying placards on Dihua street, and having young models inscribe anti-shark fin tattoos on their breasts and thighs.
Screen capture of video shot by Shih in 2013.