New Taipei City has taken in 40 migrant workers allegedly controlled by a gang of criminals who are suspected of operating an underground employment brokerage. Prosecutors were questioning five Taiwanese suspects in connection with the case.
In raids carried out on Monday, law enforcement officials questioned the migrant workers, 30 women and 10 men, after taking them into custody to check their identifications and record their statements.
It was discovered that 39 were Indonesian and one Vietnamese, and that most of them were illegal migrant workers who had absconded from their legal contracts, New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office spokesman Hsieh Tsung-fu (謝宗甫) said.
After questioning by prosecutors, the migrant workers were transferred to National Immigration Agency (NIA) facilities to be processed and deported to their home nations.
The gang was headed by 57-year-old Chen Chien-chih (陳健智), along with two associates surnamed Yeh (葉) and Lee (李), prosecutors said.
The five suspects were held after raids on four locations in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林).
New Taipei City prosecutors coordinated the raids with the NIA, and local and military police, Hsieh said.
Chen and his associates ran an underground employment brokerage and made profits by contracting the migrant workers to temporary jobs, mostly as family caregivers or manual laborers at private businesses, according to investigators
The workers were paid NT$1,800 per day, from which Chen would deduct NT$600 as a brokerage fee, Hsieh said.
Chen and his associates allegedly housed the migrant workers in a six-story building subdivided into 60 small rooms that served as the living quarters of the migrant workers and staff working for Chen’s operation.
Chen and his associates allegedly provided the migrant workers with amphetamines and other narcotics to feed their addictions and to better control the workers, who were transported to their jobs in vehicles driven by security staff hired by the gang, Hsieh said.
Prosecutors said Chen is also suspected of raping some of the female migrant workers, threatening to report them to the NIA for working illegally if they did not comply.
Chen also made a profit by charging rent for the small living quarters.
The migrant workers were charged NT$10,000 per month for a room with air conditioning and NT$5,000 for a room with a fan but no air conditioning, Hsieh said.
After questioning, Chen was detained, while the other four suspects were released on bail of between NT$30,000 and NT$50,000.
Prosecutors said they intend to charge the suspects with operating an organized criminal ring, distribution of illegal drugs and rape.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS