The owners of a family-run poultry processing plant who were arrested on suspicion of abusing five migrant workers from Indonesia will be prosecuted on human trafficking charges, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday.
Following a tipoff, the agency launched an undercover investigation into the poultry processing plant in Taipei County’s Sinjhuang City (新莊) and allegedly discovered illegal practices at the factory.
“We found that they [the employers] forced the Indonesian migrant workers to work long hours — from 13 to 21 hours a day — and prohibited them from leaving the factory,” NIA officer Chang Yao-jen (張耀仁) said.
“They were not paid at all. The bosses told them that the company was having financial difficulties, but was actually paying its Taiwanese workers regularly,” Chang said.
“There were cameras all over the place to make sure that the migrant workers did not leave the plant,” Chang said.
The three suspects — Wang Chin-hsiu (王錦琇) and her brothers, Wang Yung-feng (王永豐) and Wang Hui-feng (王匯豐) — allegedly “bought” the five Indonesians who came to Taiwan to work but had apparently run away from their original employers, the agency said in a press statement.
The agency said it was the second time the Wangs were investigated for allegedly abusing their workers.
In November last year, prosecutors in Taipei County’s Wugu Township (五股), where the Wangs originally had their poultry processing plant before moving to Sinjhuang, also launched an investigation into allegations of abuse.
The abuse apparently continued after the relocation, the agency said, with residents near the plant in Sinjhuang reporting it to the NIA.
The Wangs were arrested last month, NIA public relations officer Hsu Chien-lin (徐健麟) said.
“We only referred the case to the Banciao Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday because we needed time to check all the details to make sure it’s a case of human trafficking,” Hsu said.
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