The National Police Agency (NPA) this week mounted a sweeping crackdown on criminal activities, arresting suspected gangsters and seizing illegal weapons ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The coordinated action by law enforcement units nationwide resulted in the arrests of suspected local heads of major organized crime syndicates, including the Bamboo Union, Heavenly Way Alliance and the Four Seas Gang.
Criminal Investigation Bureau Commissioner Huang Chia-lu (黃嘉祿), who took over the post last month, said the crackdown was designed to ensure law and order ahead of the holiday.
Photo: CNA
“At this time of the year, we usually see increased incidents of violence related to debt collection and financial disputes, because companies and individuals often need money for the year end, or to settle loans before the Lunar New Year. We have to act to stop these violent assaults and extortion activities,” he said.
Working in cooperation with local police units, the authorities arrested 21 China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) members for suspected involvement in criminal activiities.
These included a 54-year-old surnamed Chiu (邱), allegedly a deputy chief of a CUPP chapter, and a 48-year-old surnamed Ho (何), allegedly the head of another CUPP chapter.
Investigators said they are suspected of engaging in extortion, violent assault and using firearms to threaten people to settle loan disputes.
Police said they arrested a 44-year-old man surnamed Liao (廖) in Taichung, who is allegedly a member of the Bamboo Union and the head of the CUPP’s Taichung chapter.
He allegedly instructed his men to beat up several employees at his company and customers who did not want to join the pro-China party, police said.
In Taipei, police arrested 27 suspects in six cases of extortion, protection rackets and violent assault by organized crime groups, the NPA said.
As of yesterday, 621 suspects had been arrested in Taipei for theft, robbery, trafficking in firearms and narcotics, and other illegal activities, it added.
Among those arrested were seven members of a criminal group headed by a man surnamed Chou (周) based in Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山), police said.
Police seized knives, steel rods and other weapons, along with 8.5kg of cannabis and narcotics during the raids, they said.
Elsewhere, Changhua County police yesterday said they had arrested key local figures of the Heavenly Way Alliance and the Four Seas Gang, and seized three modified handguns, ammunition, stolen cars and 13 luxury watches.
Police in Kaohsiung said they had arrested a Bamboo Union local head surnamed Wei (韋), 40, and five of his subordinates, for allegedly using violent tactics in the past two years to collect debt.
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