The ShuangTaiZi police in FaKou county blocked the road and intercepted the "hijacked" taxi. Police provided photos.
In the darkness of night, a taxi with two men and two women sped past. The display screen on the car's roof sign flashed: "I'm being robbed, please call the police!"
When the taxi passed through FaKou County in Shenyang, the police mobilized over 100 SWAT officers, detectives, and local police station officers, as well as more than 30 police cars to pursue and intercept it. Along the way, more than 10 police stations set up checkpoints and blocked the roads. "Not good, there's a taxi with an out-of-town license plate that has been hijacked, heading west," at around 6 PM on October 30th, a taxi driver in FaKou County who saw the alarm message reported it to 110.
The driver explained that he had noticed this vehicle as soon as it entered FaKou. This car was a green-and-white "Lingyang." Based on the license plate, it was from Jilin Province. There were two men and two women in the car, and it was very noisy inside. The car was driving very fast. On the rooftop light display, it clearly flashed: "I'm being robbed, please call the police!"
Hijacking a taxi! The person in charge of the FaKou County Public Security Bureau rushed to the scene and ordered all 50 patrol SWAT officers to join the pursuit. At the same time, according to the possible direction the "hijacked" taxi might take, orders were given for the police stations along the way to set up checkpoints and blockades.
Considering the safety of the "hostages" inside the car, the pursuit vehicles could not honk or use their hazard lights. Soon, the pursuit vehicles spotted the "target" and requested instructions from the command center.
Based on the trajectory of the vehicle, it was likely heading towards Jinzhou. To the west and north of FaKou County, both routes could lead to Jinzhou. One route could go directly to Xinmin through WuTaiZi Township and DingJiaFang Township, then head to Jinzhou; the other route goes through WuTaiZi Township and ShuangTaiZi Township, heading to ZhangWu, then to Jinzhou. These two directions involved more than 10 police stations along the way.
FaKou police decided that all police stations along the way would participate in the interception operation: more than 100 SWAT officers, detectives, and police station officers, over 30 police cars, and more than 10 police stations.
Just after 6 PM, the person in charge of the ShuangTaiZi police station received the order and immediately dispatched four police forces and two police cars to block the road and set up a checkpoint on the XiuDa line (XiuShuiHeZi to DaFangShen) heading towards ZhangWu.
About 20 minutes later, a green-and-white taxi and many other vehicles stopped. The pursuing convoy also arrived.
Armed police officers pretended to check the vehicles, quietly approaching the taxi. They found that the two men and two women inside did not show any signs of unease, and even loud pop music was playing inside. The police surrounded the car from all sides, simultaneously moving in and controlling the individuals inside.
Upon investigation, this taxi came from the Siping area of Jilin Province, and the driver was a 30-year-old named Xiao Meng. Xiao Meng looked bewildered, "Everyone inside is my friend, we wanted to go to Jinzhou for fun. We haven't done anything illegal?"
The police took him to the back of the car and pointed to the rooftop sign where "I'm being robbed, please call the police" was still flashing. Xiao Meng was dumbfounded. "Police officer, I really don't know when I pressed it." Xiao Meng showed the police a black button below the steering wheel. This was the emergency alarm switch.
The police analyzed that it was very likely Xiao Meng accidentally triggered the alarm switch while joking with his friends. As for the dozens of police cars chasing behind, Xiao Meng said that he didn't notice them at all, "We were playing music in the car, chatting happily, and didn't pay attention to anything else."
A false alarm, was it worth using so much police force? Yesterday, facing the reporter's question, a responsible person from the FaKou police firmly stated: It was worth it! The safety of the common people is no trivial matter.
Chief reporter Wang ZhiDong