'Jigsaw expert' saves man's shredded cash

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TAIPEI: A Taiwan forensic scientist nicknamed the "jigsaw expert" has helped one fortunate man recover cash he accidentally shredded, piecing together the remains of 200 bills in just seven days.

The man, surnamed Lin, dropped a bag containing T$200,000 ($6,600) in T$1,000 bills into his plastics factory's shredding machine last month.

With the help of a local official, Lin had the shredded notes passed on to the forensics division of the Justice Ministry's special investigations unit, which offers a free service repairing damaged cash.

There 30-year veteran forensic scientist Liu Hui-fen put all the notes back together in seven days, a task, she was quoted as saying, that was "difficult" and "required patience."

A ministry official said on Thursday that the 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.

The central bank has determined that the notes have been sufficiently restored to its requirement for three-quarter completeness, and will return the cash to the lucky Mr. Lin.