Authorities yesterday arrested more than 40 suspected gang members after raids in Taipei and Kinmen Island to confiscate firearms and weapons reportedly belonging to the Four Seas Gang and its local chapters, who are suspected of involvement in a series of violent acts.
National Police Agency officials said they had arrested several suspected major Four Seas Gang figures, including Tai Ke-wei (戴克威) and Chien Yu-cheng (簡佑宬) along with subordinate alleged gang members, and planned to press charges on possession of illegal firearms, extortion, violent assault, fraud and other offenses.
As part of its efforts to crack down on illegal gang activity, the agency arrested 25-year-old Tai at his residence in Kinmen, it said.
Photo: Chen Yi-yun, Taipei Times
He was allegedly in charge of a Four Seas Gang weapons depot.
Police uncovered three handguns and 143 bullets in his home, they said.
Tai is allegedly the second-in-command under Chen Tzu-chun (陳子俊), 28, who is suspected of heading the Four Seas Gang’s Sea Giant chapter (海巨堂).
Besides a firearms arsenal in Kinmen, Tai also has other depots in Taipei and New Taipei City, investigators said, adding that the police would conduct searches to locate them.
Tai and Chen are suspected of ordering the Sea Giant chapter members to attack Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and other Hong Kong democracy activists at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Jan. 7, when the New Power Party invited Wong’s group to a forum and activities in Taipei, investigators said.
Police said members of the Bamboo Union and the Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP) are also suspected of attacking Hong Kong democracy activists at the airport on Jan. 7.
Members of the Sea Giant chapter have links with other major criminal gangs who are suspected of physically assaulting students and pro-Taiwan independence group members and acting as “armed security escorts” at pro-China unification events, police said.
In other coordinated raids yesterday, police arrested Chien Yu-cheng, 41, and suspected subordinate gang members in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊).
Officials said Chien Yu-chen is head of the Four Seas Gang’s Sea Whale chapter (海鯨堂), which is active in New Taipei City.
Police said they confiscated the chapter’s arsenal, including homemade bombs, handguns, bullets, samurai swords, knives, clubs and other small weapons in the raid.
Investigators said that Chien and gang members from his chapter were involved in armed kidnapping in a case in April this year, along with burglary, extortion and physical assault.
Police said investigations would continue to determine if Tai and Chien Yu-chen were involved in violence against students and pro-Taiwan independence groups.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City police arrested several alleged members of the Bamboo Union Gang, which police suspect is headed by a man surnamed Lee (李) and a man surnamed Chou (周).
Police confiscated handguns, bullets and other weapons thought to belong to Lee and Chou, who are believed to be involved in illegal drug production.
The raids uncovered hemp plants and pouches commonly used to package “coffee powder” narcotics mixes, police said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS