TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Vietnamese-American man arrested inside an off-limits area at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport refused to answer questions from police, reports said Friday.
The man was found wandering around at 8 a.m. Friday on the tarmac between a freight area reserved for Federal Express and a hangar, in a part of the airport closed to the public, according to a Central News Agency report.
While the man refused to answer questions, a United States passport was found on him. The identity check led the airport police to find that the man had arrived in Taiwan on a flight from Vietnam earlier in the week and had been due to board a connecting flight to the U.S.
However, he was reported for smoking on board his first flight, leading to a confrontation with police during which he injured an officer’s left hand, CNA reported.
The man was questioned by prosecutors before being released, and was not barred from leaving the country.
Police checked footage from surveillance cameras to find out how he had managed to enter the restricted area Friday morning, and they were asking a Vietnamese interpreter to help communicate with the man.