The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Tuesday last week detained a man who allegedly cheated Taiwanese out of their passports as part of a China-based human smuggling operation.
Police held the Taoyuan man surnamed Lin (林), 21, for questioning and recovered 20 Republic of China (ROC) passports, said Su Li-tsung (蘇立琮), captain of the 2nd Squadron at the CIB International Criminal Affairs Division.
Lin had prior criminal convictions and was working with a international human-trafficking ring, based in China’s Fujian Province, Su said.
Photo copied by Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
An investigation is ongoing to locate any other Taiwanese affiliated with the ring, he added.
“Taiwanese passports can fetch good prices on the international black market, selling for up to NT$30,000 each, as there are reciprocal arrangements for visa-free entry to the US and European nations, for a total of 112 countries around the world,” Su said.
The “passports are highly coveted by Chinese human smugglers and criminal groups, who can use them to smuggle Chinese from China and Southeast Asia into these countries,” he said.
During questioning, Lin said that he communicated with the Fujian group through WeChat and was given instructions on where to collect the passports, which he would send to an address in Fujian through an air courier.
Lin said he allegedly sent nine air courier parcels in the past few months, each containing two to four passports, for total of 20, and that he received NT$1,500 for each parcel, Su said.
However, Lin said that he did not know the people who gave him the instructions, he added.
CIB investigators launched the investigation after an international courier company alerted them in December last year, as the law prohibits sending passports abroad by mail or courier.
The parcels containing the passports were traced to a temporary storage unit in a warehouse at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
With other Taiwanese suspects, Lin reportedly obtained the passports by defrauding the passport holders, Su said.
The suspects allegedly posted job ads online and asked applicants to hand over their passports, posed as police or judiciary officials to ask people for their passports under the guise of investigating a criminal case, or promoted favorable loans and asked for passports as collateral, he added.
Lin would face fraud charges for contravening legal provisions governing passport use, prosecutors said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
RSS