A New Taipei City resident in his 30s was arrested earlier this month for allegedly smuggling totoaba swim bladders from Mexico to sell in China, as part of a months-long probe into an international smuggling ring that began with a tip-off from the FBI, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.
Local police and customs authorities seized 19kg of totoaba swim bladders between July 28 and Aug. 12 that had a black market price of about US$900,000, the CIB told a news conference at its office in Taipei.
CIB Deputy Commissioner Liao Hsun-cheng (廖訓誠) inspected the confiscated haul, while FBI Legal Attache Office representative in Taiwan Nicolas Garcia made a rare public appearance.
Photo: Yao Yueh-hung, Taipei Times
Liao said that the main haul was seized at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Aug. 10 — 161 dried swim bladders that arrived from the US by air cargo — and CIB units followed up with searches.
The detained suspect, surnamed Yao (姚), who works in the customs brokerage business, is alleged to be the main Taiwanese member of the smuggling operation.
CIB officials said that their investigation began after they received a report from the FBI last month that the smugglers purchased the dried swim bladders of totoaba — an endangered species — and sent them via international express courier delivery services from Mexico, destined for China.
The trade in totoaba swim bladders has been illegal since 1976, when the giant fish, endemic to the Gulf of California in Mexico, was added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
CIB officials said that Mexican poachers catch the fish, dry the swim bladders and then smuggle them to the US West Coast, where Chinese gangs send them via air mail or courier packages to Taiwan.
The bladders are then sent from Kinmen to Xiamen, in China’s Fujian Province, via the “small three links,” before moving on to Guangzhou, the CIB said.
Yao faces charges of contravening the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) and the Smuggling Penalty Act (懲治走私條例).
Garcia thanked the CIB and Customs Administration on behalf of the FBI and the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their efforts.
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday. Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding large-scale war games simulating a blockade on the nation, while conducting near-daily warplane incursions and sending Chinese vessels around its waters. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said a blockade would be “a monster risk for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” “It would likely not succeed, and it
AMPHIBIOUS EXERCISES: The defense ministry said that it had detected 24 Chinese PLA Air Force planes entering Taiwan’s air defense zone over the previous 24 hours Chinese movements around Taiwan were “abnormal,” Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday, flagging recent amphibious exercises in addition to drills Taipei has observed in China’s Fujian Province. Taiwan has reported a rise in Chinese military activity over the past week as dozens of fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships, have operated around the nation. “Our initial analysis is that they are doing joint drills in September, including land, sea, air and amphibious,” Chiu told reporters at the legislature in Taipei. The “recent enemy situation is quite abnormal,” he said. The comments followed a statement from the
IN MOURNING: Tsai visited the site and spoke with family members of those killed, while all the major presidential candidates said they would temporarily halt campaigning A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) killed at least seven people, including four firefighters, and injured 98, while three were still missing, authorities said yesterday. The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) plant on Jingjian Road raged for more than 12 hours after it started at about 5pm on Friday, officials said. The Pingtung County Fire Bureau early yesterday used large excavators to search for missing people, while family members waited at the scene. Pingtung County Fire Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said the bureau received a call about the fire at 5:31pm
RSS