Taiwan students DNA-tested in yoghurt thief whodunnit
- Published
An investigation into who stole a yoghurt drink cost Taiwanese taxpayers more than NT$18,000 (£459; $586)
A woman has been charged with theft in Taiwan for stealing a yoghurt drink from her roommate after being identified by a DNA test, it's reported.
According to the broadcaster TVBS, the unnamed suspect in Taipei was sharing a student house with five other women who were studying at the city's Chinese Culture University, external.
One of her housemates discovered last month that a NT$59 (£1.50; $1.92) yoghurt drink belonging to her had been consumed without her permission. She fished the bottle out of the bin, and asked the culprit to come forward.
When no one owned up, the victim took the packaging to the police and asked them to carry out an official investigation, which they accepted.
As the bottle was too wet to obtain fingerprints, the owner of the yoghurt asked officers to carry out DNA tests on her roommates to determine who was to blame.
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Police instructed all of the five suspects, as well as the woman who had made the allegations, to come to the station to be forensically tested.
As each test costs NT$3,000 (£76; $98) and is funded by the taxpayer, locals have reacted angrily to the large amount of time and money spent investigating such a matter.
One local, Mr Liu, told the Apple Daily newspaper: "It is a waste of society's resources, external. If I was a police officer, I would have just bought her a bottle to reimburse her."
A local police officer, who asked not to be named, told the paper the case was like "using a cannon to shoot birds - it is not really in line with the principle of proportionality!"
Reporting by Kerry Allen
Mr Liu said the case was "a waste of society's resources"
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