Police have done a commendable job over the past few months cracking down on human smuggling rings, Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (
Lee said that law enforcement agencies, including the National Police Agency, have cracked 80 human trafficking cases involving 626 "snakeheads" or smugglers, ring operators and illegal brokers in the first five months of this year.
This represented a 16-fold rise over the figure posted for the same period last year, Lee said.
In a written statement, Lee said that the Ministry of the Interior has coordinated efforts among the local governments of 24 cities and counties around the country to crack down on human trafficking.
So far, 11 foreigners who were victims of human trafficking have been given temporary accommodation in shelters operated by private organizations, with the assistance of local governments, Lee said.
He added that a total of 1,585 foreign workers -- victims of illegal labor brokers -- have been put up at 13 foreign workers' halfway homes across the nation.
Lee said the ministry has overseen the implementation of 52 measures to prevent human trafficking, track down traffickers and protect victims since Nov. 8 last year, when the administration announced a supra-ministerial anti-human trafficking plan.
He added that the US State Department's global human trafficking report in January confirmed that Taiwanese authorities had made some progress in efforts to address the problem.
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