When two suspected drug dealers were arrested in Taichung last week, the spotlight turned once again to a controversial figure on the other side of the country -- Hualien County Council Speaker Yang Wen-chi (
Last Saturday, officers from the National Police Administration's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested two Tai-chung men, 45-year-old Chen Hsien-chou and 38-year-old Shen Cheng-hsiung (沈正雄), while they visited friends in Taichung City's Liaoning Road.
The suspects then accused the Hualien speaker of being a drug kingpin and that he had intimate connections to organized crime in the area.
Rumors
Armed with a degree from the Dahan Institute of Technology's Department of Finance, the now 49-year-old Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) speaker began his political career in 1990, becoming a county councilor in his hometown, and eventually climbing the ladder to his current post as speaker.
Any number of rumors can be heard on the streets of Hualien about Yang's supposed association with drug dealing, but Hualien County Council Deputy Speaker Lin Lien-ming (林連明) said in his colleague's defense that Yang had expended considerable effort in cultivating a harmonious political environment in Hualien.
"Forget the party he belongs to; he has really achieved a lot for the residents of Hualien and he is always willing to negotiate with politicians from different parties -- as long as it's for the good of the people," Lin said.
A senior county law enforcement official, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Taipei Times that although Yang had nothing to do with drugs, he had been dealing with drug issues, including paying attention to particular cases, over a lengthy period of time.
However, the official said, a number of Yang's friends, including other politicians in the area, had definitely been involved in drug dealing and were currently under investigation.
Drug case
Yang made national front page news for the first time when he was associated with a drug case in Hualien County last year.
On Oct. 14, police received a phone call from a resident of Nanhua, alleging that people were dealing drugs in the area.
Seven officers hurried to the scene, where they arrested Lai Chiao-jung (賴樵榕), but three other suspects evaded arrest.
Police also discovered 28 heroin bricks weighing a total of 10.64kg, estimated to be worth more than NT$100 million, along with a pistol.
The police also discovered that three men -- Lee Wen-chien (
Officers suspected that the men were also narcotics dealers and that the bizarre scene was the result of a drug deal that went wrong.
The trio were taken to a police station, but there was apparently insufficient evidence to arrest them.
Yang then arrived at the station and escorted Lee, Chao and Chi to a hospital at their request.
While Yang said he was merely helping his constituents after police approved their release, his political opponents claim he used his position to pressure the officers into letting the three out.
But the senior law enforcement official who spoke to the Taipei Times said this was not true.
"This time, [Yang] was really misunderstood," the official said.
"When he took the three suspects away from the police station, he really didn't know that they were involved in a drug case," he said.
Renewed focus
But when the two men arrested last week told Taichung police that Yang was a key drug dealing figure, and that this was why he had helped Lee, Chao and Chen Ding-chi, the investigation took on a new complexion.
The pair told police they were part of the drug hijacking in Hualien.
They also said that when Hualien officers saw three suspects escaping from the scene, there were actually seven of them in total.
When approached by reporters, Hualien Chief Prosecutor Sun Chin-hsing (孫進興) said that law enforcement officers had not discovered sufficient evidence to prosecute Yang.
However, Sun said that it was a mistake for Yang to escort the suspects away from the police station.
"We did summon him in relation to this incident, and he answered our questions and provided his explanations as he was supposed to," Sun said.
"Although we can't tell you what he told us, I can assure you that he is `clean' at this time," he said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS