The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and police have arrested at least 100 suspected gangsters in a nationwide crackdown, with the bureau touting the result as “boding well” for public security and curtailing criminal elements’ involvement in vote-buying, violence and social disturbances in the run-up to the elections on Saturday next week.
Among the targets were members of three major organized crime syndicates: the Bamboo Union, the Heavenly Way Alliance and the Four Seas Gang, CIB 4th Investigation Corp Deputy Chief Wang Chih-cheng (王志成) said.
One major figure under arrest was a 35-year-old man surnamed Tsai (蔡), reputedly head of a Four Seas Gang chapter in New Taipei City, who allegedly used violence to collect debts, and was at the center of several disputes over money and control of territory.
Photo: Huang Chieh, Taipei Times
“Tsai’s arrest helps to halt violence and public disturbances, while illegal firearms, bullets, knives, cash and checks have been seized. This is part of efforts to prevent organized crime syndicates from interfering in the nine-in-one elections,” Wang said.
Police have arrested three alleged Four Seas Gang members, including Tsai, 22 alleged members of the Bamboo Union and 17 from the Heavenly Way Alliance, along with 15 wanted criminals and 84 individuals with various alleged gang affiliations, CIB data showed.
Among those arrested were two Bamboo Union members who are ranking officials in the Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP), the pro-Beijing organization long suspected of receiving financial support from China, and seven other gangsters who are also affiliated with political parties, Wang said.
The three crime syndicates have a largely pro-China ideology, and many of their leaders have business operations in China or have fled to China after being prosecuted, CIB officials said.
One clear example is CUPP founder Chang An-le (張安樂), whose Taolue Group (韜略集團) has offices in Hong Kong and Dongguang, China, officials said.
It is suspected that organized crime syndicates are a primary conduit for the Chinese government to funnel an estimated NT$35 billion (US$1.13 billion) in financial support to pro-China organizations and political parties to run propaganda campaigns in an attempt to subvert the nine-in-one elections, they said.
Meanwhile, Concentric Patriotism Association (CPA) chairman Zhou Qinjun (周慶峻) and Chinese Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilor candidate Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉) have been barred from leaving the nation and confined to their residences for allegedly contravening the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).
The office said they received an anonymous tip-off that the CPA on Oct. 1 held a feast at Ichilong Restaurant in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to “celebrate the National Day of the People’s Republic of China.”
The CPA had reserved 60 tables at NT$7,000 per table and Zhang was allegedly seen canvassing for votes for her campaign, prosecutors said.
Zhou invited nearly 20 members of the CPA to visit Guizhou Province between July and August for what was called a “landing treat” event, they said.
Zhou oftens visits underground currency exchange dealers, to allegedly exchange yuan that he brings back from China into New Taiwan dollars, they said.
The funds are suspected to be from the Chinese government and are backing Zhang’s campaign, they said.
Zhou has denied the allegations that the CPA and Zhang’s campaign are being subsidized by China.
Additional reporting by Yao Yueh-hung
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
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
Four former Hong Kong opposition lawmakers jailed in the territory’s largest national security case were released yesterday after more than four years in prison, the first among dozens convicted last year to regain their freedom. Former legislators Claudia Mo (毛孟靜), Jeremy Tam (譚文豪), Kwok Ka-ki (郭家麒) and Gary Fan (范國威) were part of a group of 47 public figures — including some of Hong Kong’s best-known democracy advocates — who were charged with subversion in 2021 for holding an informal primary election. The case fell under a National Security Law imposed on the territory by Beijng, and drew international condemnation and warnings
RSS