■ Crime
Criminals repatriated
Four criminals wanted in Taiwan -- including a gang leader -- who had fled to China have been repatriated back to Taiwan via Macau, Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials said yesterday. The CIB officials said that with the assistance of the Macau police they were able to trace the four, identified as Oung Chi-ching (翁之靖), 52, Wei Yung-tien (魏永田), 47, Wang Shao-hung (王紹鴻), 40, and Chang Cheng-chun (張正春), 39. All four were expelled by the Chinese authorities to Macau. Taiwan police, working with their Macau counterparts, then brought the four suspects back to Taiwan. Police said the repatriation is a positive result of a crackdown on crime and sends a message that criminals who flee to China will no longer find a safe haven there.
■ Water
Reservoir level drops
The water level in the Feitsui Reservoir in northern Taipei County had fallen below 150m as of late Thursday, the lowest level since the beginning of this year and a record February low since the reservoir's opening 15 years ago. The water level is 10m lower than the average for this month and about 4.5m lower than the level recorded for the corresponding month last year. The water level Thursday evening was just 52.52 percent of capacity. Despite precipitation over the past week, the reservoir has received only a limited amount of additional water. Although Taipei Water Department Director Kuo Juei-hua (郭瑞華) said it remains too early to talk about water rationing, he urged the public not to waste the resource and added that his department has asked public establishments and schools to be equipped with water-conservation equipment starting next month.
■ Environment
EPA denies pricing policy
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday it has not yet set any timetable for an across-the-board implementation of a unit-based garbage collection pricing system. The Cabinet-level agency was responding to media reports that the EPA will begin to collect per-bag garbage disposal fees countrywide by the end of this year. "The report is not true," said Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文), an EPA department chief in charge of solid-waste disposal. At present, only the Taipei City Government implements a per-bag policy for garbage collection. "The success of the Taipei experience might not necessarily be suitable for enforcement in other cities and counties at the moment," Chen said, adding that the EPA will evaluate manpower resources, relevant facilities and environmental education in various areas before setting a timetable for implementing such a pricing system.
■ Japan
Student arrested for forgery
A Taiwanese student studying at a private college in Japan has been arrested in connection to a credit-card forgery ring, police said yesterday. Police also seized around 800 forged and genuine credit cards, as well as equipment used to produce counterfeit credit cards. Police said that Chen Kuo-wen (陳國文), 33, who lives in Tokyo, was involved in producing 10 fake credit cards in mid-November based on cards issued to foreign customers by 10 operators in France, Britain and Sweden. Police said that four people, including Taiwanese and Japanese, used the forged cards to shop for electrical appliances in Tokyo at the end of last year, and then resold them for at least ?70 million (around US$580,000).
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