The alleged mastermind of a group involved in passport theft and forged passports was arrested by the New Taipei City Police Department and National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials on Wednesday last week, the NIA said on Saturday.
The man, surnamed Lee (李), is alleged to have led a group that stole Republic of China passports that were altered to help People’s Republic of China citizens illegally enter Canada, Japan, South Korea, the UK, the US and other countries, the NIA said.
The NIA had been working on the case for two years with immigration authorities in those countries.
Many of the passports stolen were obtained from Taiwanese while they were traveling abroad, the NIA said.
The group also allegedly hired Taiwanese to help it get goods into other countries or secure loans in those countries, it said.
“We received reports from some of those hired to transport goods or secure loans who told us they were not reimbursed after doing so,” the NIA said.
The NIA and New Taipei City police said they discovered that Lee was posting ads on Facebook in 2018, offering NT$150,000 for “two days of work” in a foreign country and NT$60,000 for either taking gold to another country to sell or helping to secure a loan in a foreign country.
Some of those hired had their passports stolen by the group before leaving Taiwan, the NIA said.
“Lee was allegedly working with a go-between who would promise to purchase plane tickets for those who were hired,” it said. “Some people handed over their passports and waited at the airport, but nobody showed up with their tickets.”
Investigators gathered 380 reports of people exploited in some way by the group over the past three years, the NIA said, adding that most of the reports involved passport theft.
“Taiwan currently has visa-free entry agreements with 111 countries, and it appears the group was primarily targeting these countries for its activities,” the NIA said.
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