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- China thought it could steal a US military chopper by bribing a Taiwanese pilot, per CTWant.
- The pilot was offered $15 million to steal and land the chopper on a Chinese aircraft carrier.
- The heist was foiled after the pilot was detained by Taiwanese authorities.
A Taiwanese helicopter pilot was offered a fortune by China to steal a US military helicopter for them, according to a Taiwanese online magazine CTWant.
According to the magazine, the pilot was initially offered a paltry NT$200,000 ($6,345) to steal a CH-47F Chinook helicopter. The pilot, who was only identified by his last name Hsieh, initially turned down the offer.
Hsieh, however, changed his mind when the Chinese came back with a far more generous one — $15 million, if he took part in their chopper heist.
"According to the instruction from the mainland agents, Lieutenant Colonel Hsieh was asked to fly the helicopter at low altitude along the coastline to the Chinese Communist carrier which would be staging drills close to the waters 24 nautical miles off Taiwan," according to the indictment obtained by the South China Morning Post.
The ambitious caper, however, failed to materialize after the pilot was detained by Taiwanese authorities in August. A retired Taiwanese soldier, who'd relayed China's offer, was also detained.
"I feel pained too, to have discovered a case like this and those allegedly involved must be dealt with according to the law," Taiwan's defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told parliamentarians on Monday, per the South China Morning Post.
Representatives for China's foreign ministry and Taiwan's defense ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.