Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) yesterday praised law enforcement agencies for their efforts in a major nationwide initiative to crack down on extortion gangs, underground syndicates and gambling operations that has resulted in the apprehension of more than 1,500 suspected criminals, partially in response to violent incidents at public hearings.
“We will have ‘zero tolerance’ for gang violence. The government must establish its authority in upholding public safety and clamp down on criminal activities,” Yeh said at the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s headquarters in Taipei, while surveying the results of coordinated raids.
“Groups of gangsters were identified at several recent protests that turned violent, disrupting public hearings on important issues,” Yeh said. “Evidence showed that they posed as civic organizations, but they have followed their own political agenda of interfering and subverting the democratic process.”
Photo: Chen Yi-yun, Taipei
“We must prosecute them to the full extent of the law to maintain the safety and well-being of our society,” he added.
The crackdown has been a significant success, bureau Deputy Director Chi Ming-mo (紀明謀) said, adding that authorities had arrested six high-ranking members of two of the nation’s most notorious organized crime groups, including Chen Tzu-chun (陳子俊) of the Four Seas Gang (四海幫) and Chen Mu-sen (陳木森) of the Bamboo Union (竹聯幫).
The operation involved 6,470 police officers in raids of 164 locations linked to gang activities, Chi said, adding that a total of 108 suspects had been arrested.
Photo: courtesy of New Taipei City Police Department
A total of 5,889 police officers participated in other operations in all of the nation’s counties and major cities that targeted gambling dens and betting pools, major sources of income for Taiwanese gangsters and organized crime groups, officials said.
Those raids resulted in the capture of 106 suspects from illegal gambling dens, 50 from illegal sports betting pools, 692 from underground Mark Six lottery operations, 513 at illegal casinos and 79 from other forms of gambling activities, they added.
Police apprehended members of two large online gambling networks, Tao Gin (淘金網), operator of w3.tg777.net, and Jiou Zhou Entertainment (九州娛樂網), which runs tx5588.com, both of which allegedly received bets from people in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau, officials said.
Accompanying Yeh at the event was National Police Agency Director-General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩).
A number of lawmakers and pundits have called for his removal over a perceived neglect of his duties, a lack of police initiatives to prevent violence at public hearings and not actively pursuing the capture of known criminals after such incidents.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS