The National Police Agency (NPA) yesterday vowed to continue to carry out crime sweeps and enhance public safety following a number of shootings and other violent incidents in the past few weeks.
NPA Director-General Chen Ja-chin (陳家欽) made the remarks at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee in response to questions from lawmakers about reports of shootings, street brawls, kidnappings and other violent incidents in several cities.
“Police officers in Tainan and Kaohsiung have arrested the suspects in these incidents... However, all these are separate, unrelated incidents, so it is wrong to say that Taiwan has a serious crime problem. That would be unfair to all the hard work by our police officers,” Chen told reporters after the meeting.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“Public safety is good [in Taiwan], and it is an accumulation of the endeavors and support of everyone in society. The police will take extra efforts to protect the public,” he said.
“We are working on the cases of leaders of major organized crime groups, so as to catch them one by one,” he said. “I believe that with the joint efforts of all sectors of society, the public can again feel that Taiwan is a good and safe place.”
The agency has, in cooperation with judicial units, arrested more than 800 crime suspects, including four members of the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), and had seized 26 illegal firearms, Chen said on Wednesday.
Major crime sweeps were carried out from Wednesday last week to earlier that day, resulting in the seizure of 26 firearms, including modified handguns and rifles, as well as bullets, machetes, knives, and wooden and aluminum bats, he said.
The weapons were on display at the Criminal Investigation Bureau office in Taipei on Wednesday.
The agency said that 87kg of illegal drugs were also seized during the crime sweeps, while 823 suspected gang members and fugitives were arrested, including members of the CUPP, and organized crime syndicates the Heavenly Way Alliance, the Bamboo Union and the Four Seas Gang.
As of Wednesday, a total of 11,221 police officers were engaged in the crackdowns, armed with warrants to search 2,437 premises and offices suspected of having links to criminal groups, the agency said.
Agency officials said that Chen had instructed all police precincts at the local level to focus on searching and gathering evidence on all types of illegal firearms and ammunition, underground workshops producing and modifying firearms, dangerous criminals in possession of firearms and other activities in contravention of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例).
Another priority task is to trace the money flow and conduit of smuggled firearms from abroad by organized crime groups to cut them off at the source, and to shut down money-laundering operations and seize illegal proceeds from criminal activities to stop the supply of illegal firearms, agency officials said.
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