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Jobless man steals for free prison lunch

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-16 13:58

TAIPEI - A jobless Taiwan man released from prison stole a box of cotton swabs just to get arrested again because he "could not forget the police department boxed lunches," officers and local media said on Tuesday.

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The homeless man in Taipei first stole a pair of shoes on Sunday, was detained and released, a local newspaper said. He then resorted to stealing again the next day just to get back inside and be fed for free.

"If someone's not doing well and comes in around meal time, we'll definitely prepare food," said an officer, surnamed Wang, at the Hsinyi District police station, which handled the case but again released the suspect, Tsou Hao-lan.

In another sign of the times on the recession-hit island, a man who had been without a job for four months stole a motor scooter and drove it to a Taipei-area police station, the paper said.