An independent councilor of Jhonghe City was released yesterday after paying NT$2 million (US$61,270) in bail for his alleged involvement in a gambling ring and the case of missing billiards star Jennifer Chen (
Chen has gone missing since early this month after allegedly running up huge gambling debts.
Investigators on Friday night arrested Jhonghe City Councilor Yu Hsiang-hsien (游象賢), 41, on suspicion of running an online gambling network and for questioning over Chen's disappearance.
"Prosecutors had applied with the Banciao District Court to detain Yu in the hope of breaking his gambling network, but the court decided to release him on NT$2 million bail," Tseng Chiun-che (
Prosecutors on Friday raided Yu's residence, office, a hostess pub in Taipei County allegedly run by Yu, an underground company that offers online betting on sports games and Chen's Taipei residence.
Tseng said that as prosecutors were probing a bribery case relating to election of the speaker for Jhonghe City Council, they found a number of phone conversations between Yu and Chen about sports betting and Chen's debts.
Prosecutors said that Yu first enticed Chen to gamble on local professional baseball games by saying he knew which and how games were fixed. Chen then started betting on baseball games through online gambling sites run by Yu and other gangsters.
According to local media reports, Chen's addiction to betting on sports such as local baseball games and US Major League baseball games led to gambling debts of more than NT$10 million, which she has been unable to pay.
Prosecutors said that in June, Yu further enticed Chen to bet on World Cup games to win back some money to pay her debts, and even agreed to let Chen pay by check instead of cash.
However, Chen reportedly lost more than NT$10 million in the World Cup games.
The officials added that on July 24, Yu ordered his gangsters to negotiate with Chen and demand that she give up her Taipei residence to cover her gambling debts. Chen soon went missing after the meeting.
Chen is rumored to be hiding out in Hong Kong, trying to evade bookmakers.
The 30-year-old billiards star, nicknamed "Beautiful Baby," came to prominence in the 1990s, claiming the Women's Professional Billiards Association's world number one ranking in March 1999.
Chen won a bronze medal for billiards at the 2001 World Games and a silver medal in last year's World Games.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS