Police said Friday they have detained three possible suspects in the March 19 shooting that lightly injured Chen Shui-bian one day before his re-election.

Investigators searched the suspects' home and found a homemade handgun, gunpowder and bullets similar to the ones police think were used in the attack, investigator Wang Chong-jong told reporters.

Police were also suspicious about the suspects - two men and a woman who weren't fully identified - because one of them operated a pub near the shooting scene in Tainan, the southern city where Chen was shot while parading in an open Jeep, Wang said.

"The people who go to the pub are shady, and we suspected he (the owner) was selling drugs and he had guns," said Wang of the Criminal Investigation Corps in the southern city of Kaohsiung.

"After the shooting, the three left Tainan and came down here to Kaohsiung," Wang said.

"Whether or not they're tied to the shooting case, we're still investigating this," Wang said.

"Right now, we've sent the gun and the bullets to the crime lab for a comparison," Wang said.

Police displayed a black handgun, bullets and bags of ecstasy tablets they said were found at the suspects' home.

Chen's stomach was grazed in the shooting, and his running mate Annette Lu, was hit in the knee.

Chen's hotly disputed re-election has triggered suspicion that the shooting might have been staged and helped Chen gaining sympathy votes. The oposition Kuomintang Party said it won't accept the election results until the attack is explained.

Source: China Daily/agencies