The police have launched an investigation into the activities of Bamboo Union, the nation's largest gang, according to a National Police Administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The probe comes after police arrested several Bamboo Union members for their involvement in violent clashes at CKS International Airport on April 26, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The police source said gangs have recently stepped up their involvement in political rallies in a bid to win protection from influential politicians.
"Organized criminal groups have appeared at political rallies in recent years," the police official said. "They think if they protect those parties in rallies, [the parties] can protect them from being charged with crimes."
Pro-China stance
Of Taiwan's gangs, the Bamboo Union, which is composed largely of Mainlanders and has a history of links to the KMT, has become most involved at political rallies, the official said -- motivated in part by its strong pro-China stance. The union opposes the Taiwan independence movement.
Police last week arrested two Bamboo Union gangsters, Chang Hun-ko (
Police also arrested Chu Chia-hsun (
The officials said that Chu and his ex-wife, Wang Lan (
Police said Chang Hun-ko was the union's Lion Division (
Chang beat up the owner of a company in Kaoshiung who refused to withdraw from a bid, police said. Wu Gin-chen was accused of intimidating companies into giving the gang protection money, police said.
gangster politicians
The official said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) used to include some gangsters-turned-politicians, the most notorious being Pingtung County Council speaker Cheng Tai-chi (
He said Cheng went all out to campaign for Wu Tse-yuan (
Wu was convicted of corruption and fraud for his involvement, as a then-KMT member and director of the Taiwan Provincial Government's Planning and Development Department, in a kickback scandal over the 1992 Sipiantou water-pumping station project for Taipei County.
Cheng was arrested for the murder of Chung Yuan-feng (
He said that while local gangsters such as Cheng have traditionally entered politics purely for profit, Bamboo Union gangsters were also driven by pro-China ideology.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS