The head of the Taiwanese crime syndicate known as the "Four Seas Gang" (
Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) confirmed yesterday that Shanghai police arrested Yang Kuang-nan (楊光南) at a restaurant in the city on Nov. 1.
Eight other people were reportedly arrested along with Yang.
CIB officials said they are working with the Straits Exchange Foundation (
This is the second time Yang has been arrested in China. He was first arrested for a brawl at a Shanghai bar in March last year. Yang was released and deported to Macau after almost two months in jail.
At the time, Yang narrowly escaped Taiwan police who were sent to pick him up at Macau's airport.
China has since blacklisted Yang.
Local media reported yesterday that Yang had fled to Hainan Island, Singapore and the US before finally returning to China to consolidate his power base there.
The Four Seas Gang has been running gambling dens and nightclubs in Shanghai in cooperation with local gangs, local media reports said.
Shanghai police were prompted to take action after the Four Seas Gang decided to move its headquarters to Shanghai, according to police sources.
Cooperation between crime syndicates in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau has been on the rise following the handover of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese rule.
Taiwan's CIB officials said they are optimistic about Yang's repatriation to Taiwan, but also expressed concern that the Four Seas Gang may mobilize its political connections on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to arrange Yang's escape.
Taiwan police suspect Yang has been involved in numerous criminal cases here, ranging from bid-rigging to murder.
Yang was convicted in a murder case in the mid-1980s and was released after serving time in jail.
One report said that Yang had tried to dissolve his gang four years ago, wanting to shed his criminal background and start businesses in Shanghai, but did not follow through with his plan.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing