Police officials said they were following legal procedures by questioning then releasing 20 Taiwanese yesterday morning, after the group was repatriated from Malaysia on suspicion of engaging in telecom scams.
The group returned to Taiwan from Kuala Lumpur late on Friday, with all 20 Taiwanese taken into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by Criminal Investigation Bureau officials for questioning, which lasted about two hours, after which all 20 were released at about 2am yesterday.
Bureau deputy head Huang Chia-lu (黃嘉祿) said his agency referred the case to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation, “but at the time, we did not have sufficient evidence and the court could not issue warrants for their arrest. Therefore we had to release them after questioning.”
Photo: CNA
After officials verified their identities, all 20 consented to police questioning regarding details of their involvement in suspected telecom scams during their stay in Malaysia, Huang said.
The group was taken to the airport’s Aviation Police Bureau and National Immigration Agency offices. They were released after questioning, with most being met by family members.
The bureau has requested information from Malaysian and Chinese authorities, and pending an investigation, the suspects might receive a summons from prosecutors and be required to appear at a trial hearing, Huang said.
Yesterday’s development was the latest in a series of twists in the case, after Malaysian authorities in a series of raids on March 25 and 26 arrested 120 people on suspicion of operating telecom scams targeting people in China.
Among the 120 suspects, 52 are Taiwanese and the others Chinese, Malaysian police said, adding that they received information from and collaborated with Chinese authorities to make the arrests.
Twenty of the 52 Taiwanese returned to Taiwan after authorities on Friday discussed the case with Malaysia and China to prevent Malaysian authorities from deporting the group to China, as was the case in another recent incident involving Kenyan officials.
One person in the group was quoted as saying: “I was very worried, thinking we were being deported to China. After Malaysian authorities said we were going to Taiwan, we felt very fortunate, because there is better protection of human rights in Taiwan.”
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