Man fined NT$2,000 for stealing cigarette

TAOYUAN, Taiwan -- You would have to be smoking mad to go to court for a stolen cigarette.
A Taoyuan man felt the burn yesterday when the district court slapped him with a NT$2,000 fine for swiping the cigarette of the man beside him at a local Internet cafe.
According to the Taoyuan District Court, the desperate smoker, surnamed Yuan, 39, was at an Internet cafe last November when the urge to light up arose. Noting the fresh pack of cigarettes on the table beside him and that its owner had fallen asleep, Yuan opened the pack and retrieved a single smoke.
The action alerted the friend of the sleeping man, who shook him awake and blew Yuan's cover. Yuan and the man, surnamed Lin, got into a heated dispute and the police were called.
A lawsuit at the district court level ensued. During the gathering of evidence, prosecutors asked various witnesses within the cafe whether they saw Yuan “take that cigarette?” Yuan was found guilty and charged NT$2,000 for his misdemeanor.