Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyan (蘇嘉全), Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林), State Public Prosecutor-General Wu Ying-chao (吳英昭) and National Police Agency Director-General Shieh Ing-dan (謝銀黨) yesterday launched a new anti-gang program as the government seeks to relentlessly crack down on the nation's criminal underworld.
The announcement comes after a victory for law enforcement officials after the arrest of the notorious kidnap-for-ransom gangster Chang Hsi-ming (張錫銘) on Wednesday.
The initiative, called Chihping Anti-Gangster Program (治平專案), is a large-scale project that will crack down on organized crime.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
"The project will take aim at five types of organized crime activity," Shih said. "These include groups which take advantage of legal businesses to cover their illegal activities; violent debt collectors; elected officials with underworld connections; politicians who ask for kickbacks or are involved illegal activities surrounding the major construction projects; and international crime rings that operate on either side of the Taiwan Strait."
According to Shih, Chang and his associates belong in the last category, but police have yet to determine who was the mastermind behind the infamous kidnap-for-ransom network.
"Our investigation showed that crime rings assign detailed tasks to each of its members. Everyone in the group is involved in a portion of a crime. As a result, it also takes more time for officers to locate and arrest all the people involved," Shih said.
Su said that even though the arrest of Chang and several of his fellow gang members was a victory for the fight against organized crime, the investigation into the nation's most-wanted criminal continues.
"In Chang's case, we have arrested 52 gang members, seized 38 assault rifles, submachine guns and pistols, 1,700 rounds of ammunition and body armor," Su said.
"But this is not good enough, so we have to come up with more relevant leads and keep fighting against the criminals," he added.
According to the interior minister, the investigation also revealed that some of Chang's accomplices have fled to China.
"No matter where they are hiding, we will do our best to bring them back to Taiwan for trial and punishment, even if they are hiding in China," Su said.
Shih also announced that Prosecutor-General Wu was assigned to lead the anti-gang initiative.
In the past, if a gang member was arrested by police during a special crackdown drive, they were taken to the prison on Green Island and usually detained indifinitely without charge or trial.
However, the Green Island Prison was decommissioned in 2002 and all its inmates were moved to prisons in Hualien and Taitung.
"In the future, whoever is arrested in an anti-gang drive will be detained in local detention jails and officers will carry out their jobs in a professional manner," Wu said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS