TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Three suspects faced questioning about threats against 11 prosecutors working on the Core Pacific City corruption cases surrounding jailed former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), reports said Friday.

Threatening messages appeared online after the death of former Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng’s (彭振聲) wife Tuesday. Pong, a key figure in the case, was temporarily released from detention to arrange his wife’s funeral.

Social media posts showed pictures of the 11 prosecutors working on the case with added threats and images of blood spatter, Liberty Times reported. An engineer named Tai (戴), 39, was detained in Xizhi, New Taipei, on Thursday and admitted to posting pictures of the prosecutors on Threads, but he denied having added any threats or other images.

Investigators found that a couple from Taichung named Chou (周), 41, and Lin (林) had taken Tai’s image and added the threatening language and bloody imagery. They were detained in Taichung Thursday evening and transferred to Taipei for further questioning Friday.

Investigators were focusing on possible links between the three suspects and on how Tai had found the pictures of the prosecutors. Some of the photos might have been taken during court sessions, the report said.

The Core Pacific City case centers on allegations that the developer of the complex paid bribes to influence the Taipei City Government to adjust the floor area ratio of the project. The changes were approved by the city during Ko’s period as mayor between 2014 and 2022.