TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Leofoo Village, one of Taiwan’s largest amusement parks, closed its doors Saturday (May 20) after evacuating visitors due to a bomb threat.
Over the past few weeks, several popular tourist attractions — including museums, zoos, botanic gardens, and train stations have received bomb threats. While no explosive devices were ever found, most of the threats are believed to be the work of a Chinese citizen who once studied in Taiwan, named as Zhang Haichuan (張海川).
Leofoo Village issued an emergency message at 11 a.m., saying it had received a message that five bombs would explode inside the theme park at 1 p.m., per CNA. Its emergency response taskforce said it immediately alerted police and asked visitors to leave, with the village remaining closed for the rest of the day, the Liberty Times reported.
Being a weekend, an estimated 1,000 visitors entered the park in Hsinchu County when it opened at 9 a.m., per UDN. Each of the visitors who were inside when the evacuation started would receive two free tickets for later admission.
Police searched the village but found no suspicious objects. Officers will continue to patrol the area during the rest of the day, according to CNA.
The IP behind the threat was located in the United States, so police asked the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) to use its overseas contacts to help determine the real identity of the suspect, who called himself Liu Wen-wen (劉文文) in the message to the park.