A TAIWANESE gangster sent a threatening video to a TV station in which he promised to kill his rival the next time they met, a Taiwan news agency said yesterday.

Chou Cheng-bao, a member of the Celestial Way Gang, sent the five-minute video to cable station TVBS on Monday, less than two weeks after he was reportedly involved in a shoot-out with other members of the gang at a pub in the central Taiwan city of Taichung.

The video was broadcast repeatedly on Taiwanese cable news stations on Tuesday.

Wearing a tight-fitting black top and matching flak jacket, Chou brandished a pistol in the direction of a table laden with automatic and semiautomatic rifles, and said he was gunning for Liu Rei-rong, reputedly another member of the gang.

"The next time I bump into you, I'll kill you," Chou said in the video.

Taiwanese media said Chou attempted to kill Liu during the Taichung shoot-out March 18, but only managed to injure him.

Kao Cheng-sheng of Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said Chou's threat to Liu -- and the public way it was made -- may be an effort by him to raise his standing in the Celestial Way Gang.

"This was a blunt challenge to authorities," he said, adding that police reinforcements would now be mobilized to try to bring him to justice.

(SD-Agencies)