The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that 18 Taiwanese implicated in alleged fraudulent activities in Cambodia are likely to be deported to China by the end of this week, but added that the government is exploring all diplomatic channels to prevent the move.
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning, ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said that according to information the ministry has received, the suspects are expected to be deported to Beijing before the end of this week.
“With regard to The Associated Press report that the number of Taiwanese fraud suspects awaiting deportation is 21, we believe the figure might not be correct,” Wang said.
Wang said that Cambodian law enforcement officials on Monday last week arrested 27 fraud suspects, of whom 13 were Taiwanese, before apprehending four more Taiwanese suspected of fraudulent activities on Saturday last week when they were seeking to leave the nation via Phnom Penh International Airport.
On Sunday, Cambodian police apprehended eight more fraud suspects whose nationality was originally unclear due to inaccurate gender information, Wang said, adding that one of them was later reported as Taiwanese.
“Of the 39 fraud suspects who have been arrested thus far, 18 of them are Taiwanese,” Wang said.
Cambodian authorities were scheduled to deport the Taiwanese suspects to China on Tuesday, but canceled the plan.
Wang said Liang Guang-chung (梁光中), director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City, and other staff were still working to prevent the deportation, urging the Cambodian government to adhere to the nationality principle and deport the Taiwanese suspects to Taiwan.
The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior’s General Ouk Haiseila, who heads the Immigration Investigation Bureau, on Wednesday said the Taiwanese suspects, along with 14 Chinese also arrested this month, were to be sent to China because Cambodia regards Taiwan as a part of China.
The suspects are accused of defrauding people in China using calls made over the Internet, making them harder to trace.
Haiseila said the arrests, made in raids in Phnom Penh last week on Thursday and Saturday, were conducted after tip-offs from Chinese authorities.
Additional reporting by AP
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