Post date: Dec 08, 2010 3:48:39 PM
A forensic expert has pieced back together 200 bank notes after a man accidentally placed more than 6000 U.S. dollars worth of cash into a shredder.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN (DECEMBER 9, 2010) CTV - A Taiwan forensic scientist nicknamed the "jigsaw expert" has helped a man recover cash he accidentally shredded by piecing together the remains of 200 bank notes in just seven days.
The man, identified by his surname of Lin, dropped a bag containing 200,000 Taiwanese dollars (6,600 U.S. dollars) in 1,000 Taiwanese dollar notes into the shredding machine of the plastic factory where he worked last month.With the help of a local official, the shredded notes were passed on to the forensics division of the Justice Ministry's special investigations unit, which offers a free service to repair damaged cash.
There 30-year veteran forensic scientist Liu Hui-fen put all the notes back together in seven days.
She described how she had made the complex job as easy as possible by initially picking out all Chinese characters which are printed on Taiwan's 1000 Taiwanese dollar notes from the shredded pieces of paper.
"I chose to pick out the Chinese characters to prove that there were really 200 of the characters," said Liu. "With any piece, I know immediately where it belongs, and I just look for spaces to place it in."
A ministry official said the special investigations unit receives about 250 cases of damaged notes each year after fires or similar incidents, and attempts to repair as many as possible free of charge.
Under Taiwanese law, people can claim replacement bills from the central bank as long as at least 75 percent of the original is pieced together.
A grateful Mr. Lin told reporters on Thursday (December 9) that he had got the money back from the bank.