The Keelung Police Department said yesterday that it had smashed a major human trafficking ring involving suspects from Taiwan and victims from Indonesia.
A police spokesman said 23 Taiwanese suspects were turned over to the Banciao Prosecutors’ Office in Taipei County for further investigation.
Results of an initial investigation had indicated that a Taiwanese woman identified as Liao Tu (廖涂)as the alleged mastermind of the ring, which reportedly collaborated with labor brokers to import Indonesian women at a cost of NT$80,000 (US$2,400) each into Taiwan, where they would be set up in marriages of convenience to allow them to stay in the country.
The Indonesian women would then be introduced to the labor market, working as maids or caregivers, while their passports and salaries were withheld by the brokers, police said.
Their employers would pay the brokers NT$22,000 per person per month, but the workers would only receive NT$6,000 per month, rising gradually to NT$15,000 per month after their third year in Taiwan, Keelung police said.
With the assistance of Banciao prosecutors, Keelung police discovered that the men involved in the sham marriages had also served as fictitious husbands of brides from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.
In addition to the 23 suspects — eight ring leaders and 15 fake husbands — police said they also located 15 Indonesian women who had fallen prey to the ring, known as Madame Liao’s Group.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators