The Ministry of Justice has cracked a major people-smuggling ring, it said yesterday, although it would not confirm reports that the group helped Chinese spies enter Taiwan by providing fake identifications.
"This is a criminal ring consisting of Chinese and Taiwanese citizens," a senior official with the ministry's Bureau of Investigation said on condition of anonymity. "It is also the biggest human-smuggling ring we have ever broken up."
According to the bureau, special agents have been investigating and tailing suspects and collecting evidence against them since June last year.
The suspected ring leader, Sun Jung-hua (孫榮華), is a 40-year-old Chinese citizen who possesses a permit to work in Taiwan. Prosecutors did not say what his job was.
Investigators say his ring helped more than 100 Chinese citizens enter Taiwan since last year.
Special agents from the bureau arrested 36 people who allegedly worked for Sun at 14 locations in Taipei City, Taipei County, Taoyuan County and Keelung City on Thursday.
The bureau said that several Taiwanese were among those arrested.
After interrogation, prosecutor Cheng Hsin-hung (
All five are Chinese citizens with permits to work in this country.
Bureau officials quoted Sun as saying that the ring charged each "client" between NT$30,000 to NT$60,000 for fake Taiwanese identification cards, allowing them to enter and live in Taiwan.
However, the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office said it could not confirm newspaper reports that Sun and his ring members smuggled Chinese spies into Taiwan.
"We are still investigating and I cannot comment at this moment on whether they were involved in helping Chinese spies enter Taiwan with fake identifications," said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), spokesman for the prosecutors' office.
"I can only tell you that their illegal human-smuggling business was confirmed. In the meantime, we will keep summoning witnesses to help us clarify the situation," Chen said.
Yesterday, TSU Legislator Lo Chih-ming (
"Officials from the National Security Bureau estimate that there are at least 250,000 Chinese people in Taiwan doing all kinds of business. However, 50,000 of them are suspected of collecting classified information for the Chinese government," Lo said.
Lo said that these spies used various means to collect information useful to the Chinese government.
For instance, Lo said, National Security Bureau special agents have found Chinese women who were "assigned" to marry to retired servicemen, especially those who had recently retired, to glean classified military information from them.
The law bans people in the military and police force from marrying Chinese citizens or travelling to China until they retire.
"If the National Security Bureau's tip is true, these Chinese spies are already everywhere," Lo said.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
China is deploying its largest navy fleet in regional waters in nearly three decades, posing a threat to Taiwan that is more pronounced than previous Chinese war games, the Ministry of National Defense said today. Speaking in Taipei, ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said the scale of the current Chinese naval deployment in an area running from the southern Japanese islands down into the South China Sea was the largest since China held war games around Taiwan ahead of 1996 Taiwanese presidential elections. China's military has yet to comment and has not confirmed it is carrying out any exercises. "The current scale is
RSS