INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By News from Elsewhereas found by TheIndianSubcontinent MonitoringImage copyrightCTI NewsImage caption
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
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
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
You might also be interested in: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
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 AllenImage copyrightApple DailyImage caption
Mr Liu said the case was "a waste of society's resources"
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