The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) on Friday busted an alleged smuggling ring in the outlying island of Kinmen, where they say officials found shoreline village fishermen were doing a thriving business trafficking high-value goods destined for both Taiwan and China.
It was one of the biggest smuggling operations at sea in recent years, according to CGA officials.
Five suspects were detained and questioned, and the cargo was seized.
Coast guard official Chu Li-pin (曲立斌) said the confiscated cargo is so diverse that “it was almost like they were operating an offshore supermarket.”
The contraband included consumer electronic goods, LCD projectors, personal communication gadgets, automotive parts and accessories for home appliances, along with Taiwanese tea, Kinmen kaoliang, pineapple cakes, goat milk powder and chocolate bars. They also included cosmetics, CDs, children’s books, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal medication patches, medical balms and other pharmaceutical items.
Chu said the estimated value of the confiscated goods is more than NT$2 million (US$63,431), but they could be worth more than NT$5 million in China.
He said most of the goods came from Taiwan and were bound for China, but the Chinese boat raided also carried contraband bound for Taiwan.
Three Taiwanese fishermen and two Chinese nationals were detained and are liekly to be charged with violating the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act (海關緝私條例).
Chu said the CGA patrol vessels used radar to close in on the two vessels, which were meeting up near Houtou Islet to transfer the goods.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to