Although authorities have tried to crack down on illegal arms for decades, trade in them remains rampant, as revealed by the large number of weapons found in fugitive Chang Hsi-ming's (張錫銘) possession.
Recently, two prosecutors have faced allegations of being involved in arms smuggling, with one detained and another indicted. The cases revealed that smugglers are sourcing weapons from the Philippine military, and that collusion by the nation's law enforcement officials is behind the spread of illegal arms.
A lead prosecutor at the Kaohsiung Bureau of the Taiwan High Prosecutors' Office, Chang Hsueh-ming (
Chang said that according to Chu, Akira had close ties with the Philippines' military and Chu had accompanied Akira several times to buy rifles, pistols, submachine guns, grenades and ammunition outside a military base near Manila airport.
Chang said that according to Chu, it was easy to procure superior weapons from the Philippine military.
In June, Philippine police, cooperating with Taiwanese forces, arrested Akira at his luxurious residence in Manila and seized a number of illegal weapons.
Gangsters
Taiwanese police at that time said that Akira had received more than US$100,000 from the Bamboo Union gang (
Akira was the "big boss" in arms-smuggling in Manila, according to police. Last January, when he learned that Taiwanese and Philippine police intended to hunt down Chu in Manila, he hired more than 30 Filipinos, armed with pistols and rifles, to "protect" Chu.
Taiwanese police said that although they were forced to cancel the mission, they were finally able to arrest Chu and brought him back to Taiwan to face trial last March.
Lead prosecutor Chang said that although Akira and Chu were out of the picture, he believed other gangsters would take their places to broker illegal weapons deals between the Philippine military and Taiwanese gangsters.
Another case illustrates how the weapons may have gained entry into Taiwan.
Former Kaohsiung prosecutor Yeh Ching-tsai (
Yeh said Chen had "tracked down" three cases of arms-smuggling in 2003 that raised suspicions.
In January Chen "tracked down" a shipment that came into Kaohsiung Harbor that contained 50 guns and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Then, in March, Chen "seized" 39 rifles and pistols in Tainan County. In May, he "discovered" 49 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition at Kaohsiung harbor.
Chen and two agents of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau -- both of whom have since been detained -- then applied for a reward offered by the Ministry of Justice for hunting down the largest number of arms smuggled into Taiwan.
Collusion
But instead of receiving the reward, the trio have been charged with corruption, and are thought to have colluded with gangsters to "uncover" the smuggling cases.
But more seriously, Yeh said, Chen let a number of illegal arms into Taiwan using his prosecutorial authority.
Yeh said Chen wrote several official letters to the director-general of customs asking that cargo be allowed to enter Taiwan as part of investigations.
"Chen really `discovered' some illegal arms delivered from the Philippines, but the cargo he asked customs to allow into Taiwan is suspected of to have contained a large number of weapons that ended up in the hands of gangsters," Yeh said.
Yeh said that a detained gangster surnamed Shi, a Taiwanese who was in charge of placing illegal weapons into cargo in Manila, said that he had seen cargo containing a large number of weapons successfully enter Taiwan through Kaohsiung Harbor three times.
Shi has been indicted for arms smuggling.
Shi said the arms were imported in cargo containing wood, coco leaves or palm trees, as well as seafood or other agricultural products.
The weapons were hidden among the goods.
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