■ PUBLIC SERVICES
No recycling over holidays
The Lunar New Year holiday means that garbage collection will be halted for three to four days starting on Sunday in most counties and cities. The Environmental Protection Administration said residents in Taipei County and Taipei and Kaohsiung cities can expect to see garbage trucks back on the road starting next Wednesday. Recycling trucks in Taipei City will resume on Thursday, as will garbage collection in Taichung City and County. Garbage collection in Keelung and Tainan cities, along with Keelung, Miaoli, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen, Penghu and Lianchiang counties, will resume next Wednesday, with some variation between townships. In other parts of the country, collection will resume mostly on Thursday. Residents in a few rural districts may have to wait until Feb. 22 before services return to normal intervals. The agency asked residents to cut down on waste over the holiday period so cleaning crews could better cope with the heavier load after service resumption. Detailed information on garbage collection times can be found on the agency’s Web site: ecolife.epa.gov.tw.
■ SOCIETY
Celebrity’s son detained
TV celebrity Chen Kai-lun’s (陳凱倫) son, Chen Jui (陳銳), will be detained at least until the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in a case involving campus gangsters, Shilin District prosecutors said yesterday. Prosecutors said major accomplices in the case had not been arrested, while the crimes Chen Jui had allegedly committed were serious and there was a risk that he would collude with witnesses if released. The celebrity’s son was arrested last month along with dozens of senior high school, vocational school and college students believed to be part of campus gangster groups. Twelve were suspected leaders of groups recruited by the notorious Bamboo Union gang. Most were recruited as leaders of gambling rings to attract “customers” to gamble at online casinos under the cover of an information technology firm.
■ CRIME
Alleged con artist arrested
An 82-year-old man was arrested for allegedly conning people out of thousands of dollars by posing as a relative of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), police said yesterday. Deng Wen-shih (鄧文實) obtained NT$4.55 million (US$142,000) from at least two people by claiming he needed the money to release US$9 million frozen in a British bank, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. Deng, who has a record of fraud and theft, claimed to be a relative of Deng Xiaoping to appear more credible and even had a forged photograph of himself posing with the late Chinese patriarch.
■ CRIME
Pair held in Virgin Islands
A Taiwanese couple is in federal custody in the US Virgin Islands on charges of illegally importing hundreds of kilograms of black coral. Ivan Chu and his wife, Gloria, of Taipei waived their right to appear at a Tuesday hearing in a US District Court on charges that they violated the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law. A grand jury indictment alleges an unidentified St Thomas merchant had illegally bought US$50,000 in black coral from the couple since December 2008. Black coral is a fragile organism that attaches itself to rocks in deep ocean water. The animal’s skeleton is used in jewelry and sculptures.
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