■ Crime
Officials grab illicit smokes
Coast guard officers seized a large haul of untaxed foreign cigarettes worth around NT$4 million (US$120,845) in waters off Ilan, northeastern Taiwan, early yesterday. Tipped off recently that a smuggling ring would use a fishing vessel and a sampan to try to smuggle untaxed foreign cigarettes into Taiwan, coast guard officers were put on alert. At around 3am yesterday, they spotted a fishing vessel and a sampan loading and unloading goods and ordered them to stop for an inspection. After the cigarettes were found on the two vessels, the fishing ship's captain, surnamed Lin, and the six crew members were all taken back to Suao for further questioning. The seven men were later turned over to the Ilan District Court on charges of violating Taiwan's tobacco and wine regulations.
■ IPR Protection
Swiss laud CIB, CIB says
Taiwan's all-out campaign against commercial piracy and intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement has received increasing world recognition, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the National Police Administration (NPA) said yesterday. CIB Deputy Director Wang Wen-chung (王文忠) made the remarks after meeting with a senior executive from the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry (FSWI) earlier in the day. Thierry Dubois, FSWI's Far East manager, paid a courtesy call at the CIB to express his organization's gratitude for Taiwan's efforts in IPR protection and cracking down on commercial piracy. Dubois was quoted as having told Wang that Taiwan has set an example worthy of emulation by other countries in preventing commercial counterfeiting. According to Wang, the NPA has stepped up commercial piracy investigations since 1999 by setting up special operation forces in the northern, central and southern parts of the island. In January last year, the NPA further formed an IPR police corps to intensify probes into IPR infringe-ments. Wang said the amount of seized pirated products last year increased by NT$2.61 billion from the year-earlier level.
■ Diplomacy
MOFA calls Hu's trip trivial
Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) recent three-leg African visit did not have any impact on Taiwan's relations with African countries, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Chang Pei-chi (張北齊), director of the foreign ministry's African Affairs Department, said at a regular news conference that Hu's visits to Egypt, Gabon and Algeria were mainly aimed at discussing possible cooperative projects in oil exploration. "Hu's African tour has not caused any adverse impact on our relations with African countries that either diplomatically recognize the Taiwan or China," Chang said.
■ Education
Schools offered salmon tour
King Car Education Foundation will sponsor an educational tour for elementary-school students on the ecology of Formosan landlocked salmon on March 29 and March 30 at Wuling Farm in Taichung County. The children will get a first-hand look at the breeding process and the ecological environment for this fish, which is considered a national treasure and an endangered species. More than 3,000 of the salmon have been breed over the past two years. During the tour, the children will also learn about environmental preservation. Elementary schools interested in signing up for the tour can contact the foundation at (02) 2368-0273, ex 111.
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