In search of golden treasure

Officials in Taiwan have been in touch with the Japanese

By Helen Leavey in Taipei, Taiwan

The authorities in the Taiwanese city of Keelung have decided to join the search for the treasure trove rumoured to have been buried by the Japanese in an old fort nearby.

During World War II, the Japanese are alleged to have stolen billions of dollars of gold from temples, governments and individuals across East Asia - treasure which they had to hastily bury with their sudden surrender to the Americans.

The gold at this fort, if it exists, could be worth millions and millions of US dollars.

Treasure hunters

City officials are not the only ones interested in the site's rumoured treasure.

Some people are so convinced there is gold here that they've even tried to dig it up for themselves.

Now, this is an isolated spot but someone came up here in the dead of night recently and drilled a hole 5ft deep and 15ft wide, leaving before sunrise.

The hole's been filled in but you can see where it was because it's muddy there, whereas everywhere else is pebbled over. No one seems to know if the gold diggers found anything or who they were.

Now the Keelung government is planning to look for gold at the site themselves.

Lin Chen-hsing, head of the department of civil and cultural affairs, explained why the authorities want to do that.

"It's happened three times where criminals have come to dig illegally, in 1987, 94 and this year.

"These incidents made the city government start to think why the criminals came here more than once," he said.

The local authorities are planning to use metal detectors at the site to establish the truth once and for all.

" If there isn't any, then that is also the reason why we want to do metal detection, to reveal the truth to the public.

" In this way, we can prevent criminals from destroying the historical site."

Seeking help

Lin Chen-hsing has been in touch with the former commander of the fort.

"The last commander in chief of the fort was Mr Jiu Bao. He currently lives in Japan and is already in his 80s. We asked him about the fort, but concerning the question of treasure, the content of our talks have to be confidential".

Standing inside one of the old rooms I wonder what happened here. It might have been where the commander of the troops worked out strategies. It might be where his troops slept.

Now it's just dark, damp and crumbling. But it's in or near a room like this that believers think the gold could be buried.

However, experts aren't convinced that the local government should bother spending thousands of US dollars on what could be a wild goose chase.

Professor Ku Wei-ying, who teaches history at National Taiwan University, was a little sceptical.

"It sounds like the sea monster from Loch Ness in Scotland.

"Before, people tried to do it privately but this time I think the local government is in need of money, they are in financial crisis, if they find something they'll be enriched by this.

"I've heard this story so many times and every time there ends up nothing actually,", the professor said.

But while the legend persists, there's sure to be no shortage of treasure hunters treading this very trail and hoping to strike it lucky.