An illegal online gambling operation by a criminal ring based in Taoyuan has been shut down, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday, adding that the Web site handled NT$1 billion (US$32.47 million) in bets over the past six months.
Police earlier this month raided several places in Jhongli District (中壢), arresting a number of suspects, including the two suspected leaders surnamed Peng (彭) and Hsu (徐), the bureau said.
“Police entered Peng’s residence in Jhongli, seizing money-counting machines and computers, as well as two telephones, account books, NT$1.72 million in cash and other material,” Fourth Investigation Corps Captain Chang Yao-han (張躍瀚) said.
Chang said the Web site was linked to the China-based site Beijing Auto Racing PK10 (北京賽車PK10), reportedly one of the most popular forms of online gambling.
The site offers rewards for betting on major sports events, an online lottery, bingo and simulated auto racing games.
Taiwanese placed about NT$20 million in bets each week with the Taoyuan group, totaling about NT$1 billion in the past six months, Chang said.
On Sept. 5, officers raided a residential building, where they found computers and communication equipment used to run an illegal gambling Web site, the bureau said, adding that Hsu was in charge, along with four alleged members of the criminal ring.
The officers also found that Hsu and the others were using ketamine, the bureau said, adding that they would also be charged for possession of illegal drugs.
Investigators quoted Hsu as saying during questioning that he and higher-ranking members of the group received permission from the site’s Chinese operators to set up a branch in Taiwan under a profit-sharing arrangement.
Hsu said he took no part in the operation and did not handle any money, but only worked as a “branch manager” for the site’s Chinese proprietors, receiving a small commission, investigators said.
He only made NT$10 million, which he had to share with other members of the operation and young people who were hired to do odd jobs, he was quoted as saying.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS