The Executive Yuan will launch a massive crackdown on motorcycle gangs, Huang Mao-sui (黃茂穗), commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency, said yesterday.
Leaders of the gangs will be put on a watch list as part of the Chihping anti-gangster program (治平專案), Huang said.
Huang made the remarks at a press conference after a Cabinet-level meeting on prevention of crime by young people as the summer vacation approaches.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) called the meeting in the wake of a case in which five young people were suspected of beating a man to death in Hsinchu City.
The Chihping anti-gangster program was a large-scale crackdown on organized crime launched in 1996, with many members of infamous gangs such as the Heavenly Way (天道盟), Bamboo Union (竹聯幫) and Four Seas (四海幫) being blacklisted.
Huang said that the policy would be to check on the families of young people put on the watchlist each month for clues of their participation in motorcycle gangs.
After collecting evidence, leaders of the gangs would be tracked down under the Chihping anti-gangster program, Huang said.
“I think we need to adopt stricter measures to cope with people who organize motorcycle gangs and prevent them from racing on roads,” Huang said.
A motorcycle gang is defined as motorcycle riders who snake or ride in a dangerous way and groups of three or more motorcycle riders who race on roads at speeds of more than 60kph.
Huang said that the police crackdown would run nationwide until Aug. 31.
Meanwhile in other news, officials said yesterday that despite recent increases in the prices of oil and some food products, commodity prices were expected to remain flat and the government would closely monitor any changes and respond if necessary.
“For now we don’t think it necessity to use policy tools to stabilize commodity prices,” Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Vice Chairman Hu Chung-ying (胡仲英) said.
Paul Chiu (邱正雄), the leader of the Cabinet’s Commodity Price Stabilization task force, held a meeting on the issue yesterday.
Hu said the government predicted that the pace of oil price rises this year would be “slow and gentle” because oil-producing countries did not want surging oil prices because of the negative effect on the global economy, which is on the road to recovery.
The CEPD predicted average world oil prices would be between US$60 and US$70 per barrel this fall as “the economic situation allows no room for higher oil prices,” Hu said.
Meanwhile, officials defended the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ (MOEA) move earlier this month to allow state-owned Taiwan Sugar Corp (TSC, 台糖公司) to raise wholesale prices of sugar and cooking oil.
Hu said the move would not cause other suppliers to follow suit and the government would closely monitor prices.
“Even though TSC raised prices, they are still the lowest on the market. Last October, TSC cut prices to help the government stabilize the market, but the consequence was that middlemen made more money,” Hu said.
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