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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS