A fire and explosion involving industrial waste in Tainan has revealed that the chief suspect's registered company and home address are entirely fictitious, suggesting this may have been a planned illegal dumping operation.

• The case was triggered when industrial waste piled up on a plot of private vacant land on Haidian Road in Annan District caught fire and exploded.
• Two of the three companies registered under chief suspect Wang Yi-kai's name have already had their licences revoked. All were scrap metal dealers, and none held any qualification to transport or dispose of waste.
• His current company is registered in Gushan, Kaohsiung, but an inspection found the address is in fact a hair salon whose lease had long since been terminated.
• His registered home address was even more absurd: it turned out to be the premises of the Dashu District cleaning squad in Kaohsiung.
• Residents have questioned whether the local borough chief had given prior consent for the waste to be temporarily stored there, and a broker surnamed Yang also claimed he had obtained the borough chief's consent.

Outlook: The chief suspect is currently at large. Prosecutors and police will investigate whether the borough chief was involved, and where else this batch of waste may have been dumped.