Authorities in Taiwan and South Korea yesterday touted their collaboration in the arrest of eight Taiwanese for allegedly trying to smuggle gold from Taiwan to South Korea.
The eight suspects were each carrying between 2kg and 4kg of gold bars — with a combined weight of 23kg and an estimated value of NT$30 million (US$973,647) — on flights this week from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Incheon Airport in South Korea, Investigation Bureau officials said.
They were stopped by Korea Customs Service officials in Incheon, South Korea, after information was passed on by the bureau, it said.
Photo: Copied by Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The gold was 99.9 percent pure, with South Korean customs officials finding bars either taped to the suspects’ bodies, in their pockets or hidden in their shoes, the bureau said.
“The suspects were mostly young people, male and female aged 20 to 30,” bureau Taoyuan City Division deputy head Lee Meng-kao (李孟縞) said.
They boarded flights at Taoyuan airport on Monday and Tuesday, he said.
“They were likely only transporting the gold on the promise of earning a commission,” Lee said. “Our investigation will try to flush out their contacts and the masterminds behind this international smuggling operation.”
“We do not rule out that international crime syndicates are involved,” Lee said.
It was the first time that Taiwanese and South Korean authorities had worked together on an international gold smuggling case, Lee said, adding that communication and information exchange channels were established that could be a model for future cases.
The Taoyuan division coordinated the investigation, identifying suspects and doing background checks.
It collaborated with the Customs Administration and the Korea Customs Service.
The case shows the bureau’s determination to shut down international smuggling and money laundering operations, Lee said.
Bureau officials and officials from other agencies have also made a number of arrests this year over gold smuggling from Taiwan to Japan, Lee said.
“Gold smuggling on flights is likely associated with international money laundering,” Lee said. “With Taiwan facing a third round of evaluations by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, the arrests show our enhanced efforts to comply with international financial regulations and showed that international cooperation by the judiciary has achieved good results.”
The eight Taiwanese were in custody pending charges to be filed by South Korean prosecutors, Lee said.
They face prison terms of up to five years or combined fines of NT$300 million, which is 10 times what the gold is worth, Lee said.
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