Police in major sweeps nationwide over the past week have detained 350 people for alleged participation in illicit activities related to organized crime, as well as loan sharks and underground money dealers.
Criminal Investigation Bureau officials told a news briefing yesterday that they aim to uphold public security and prevent major gangs from disguising themselves as political parties to interfere in the run-up to next year’s elections, as well as to cut off their funding from outside Taiwan and money laundering operations.
A total of 350 people suspected of criminal activities were detained and questioned, including 45 alleged gangsters wanted by police and four members of the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) in central Taiwan, bureau Director Huang Ming-chao (黃明昭) said.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
The sweeps targeted members of major crime syndicates — including the Bamboo Union, the Four Seas Gang and the Heavenly Way Alliance — who have allegedly been involved in street violence, blackmail, larceny, drug trafficking and illegal firearms possession, he said.
Most suspects would face charges, along with breaches of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例), Huang said, adding that 15.5kg of narcotics were also found in the possession of several suspects, who would face charges under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
Forty-four suspects were detained for alleged possession of illegal firearms, as authorities seized 80 handguns and assault rifles, some of which had been modified, bureau official Lin Shu-kai (林書楷) said.
Lin said that he and his unit raided six facilities where firearms were being produced and modified, curtailing a portion of the illegal weapons trade.
Officials displayed cash seized from 92 alleged loan sharks and 19 unlicensed money dealers, who allegedly conducted unlicensed wire transfers and other money laundering activities, mostly in connection with criminal gangs and other illegal enterprises.
The officials said that they seized NT$280 million (US$9.06 million) in funds transfered by unlicensed money dealers, as well as NT$3.91 million in cash and six properties with an estimated total value of NT$77 million.
Bureau units in central Taiwan detained and questioned members of the Bamboo Union, including the four CUPP members, who were allegedly running illegal casinos and had been linked to blackmail and attacks related to loan shark and debt collections, the officials said.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS