A criminal group that allegedly collaborated with Chinese “snakeheads,” or human smugglers, has been busted, the National Immigration Agency’s Border Affairs Corps announced yesterday.
The group’s two leaders, surnamed Su (蘇) and Chang (張), sold Republic of China (ROC) passports to human traffickers in China, making a profit of about NT$20 million (US$674,309) over the past 12 months, Border Affairs Corps officials said.
Su and Chang were arrested along with four other people, most of whom are officials at temples in southern and central Taiwan, they said.
Taoyuan prosecutors said they plan to indict the suspects on charges of forgery and breaching the Passport Act (護照條例).
International cooperation was key to cracking the case, agency officials said.
Canadian authorities found Chinese nationals attempting to enter their borders using altered ROC passports as part of a global human trafficking operation run by major Chinese smuggling gangs and passed along that intelligence to their counterparts in Taiwan, they said.
Agents conducted surveillance for one year, which gave them enough evidence on the suspects’ involvement with Chinese smugglers, and found that Su and Chang operated tours in China to gain access to ROC passports for their illegal business.
The two allegedly circulated ads about making “easy money” on social media in Taiwan to persuade people to “go on a trip abroad and earn NT$20,000 in two days,” but after arriving in a Chinese city, the travelers would sell their ROC passports to the smugglers for NT$5,000 apiece, they added.
The human traffickers allegedly profited by charging Chinese nationals about US$50,000 each to be smuggled into Western countries using ROC passports, they said.
About 30 Taiwanese illegally sold their passports, the officials said, adding that they are tracking down the passport holders for questioning.
The agency officials warned the public against selling their passports for monetary gain, which is a criminal offense.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS