Two Taiwanese men who were jailed in Eswatini after being convicted of attempting to smuggle rhino horns out of the southern African country in 2017 were repatriated on Thursday evening to serve the remainder of their sentence.
Escorted by a six-member team from the Investigation Bureau, the men, surnamed Hsiao (蕭) and Chen (陳), arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 7:10pm after a transfer flight from Bangkok.
After Hsiao and Chen tested negative for COVID-19 in polymerase chain reaction tests upon arrival, they were transported to Taichung Detention Center, where they are to quarantine before being transferred to prison.
Photo: CNA
After serving five years of an 11-year jail sentence, the men were granted commuted sentences, which end at the end of the year, by the Eswatini government, the bureau said.
The men had attempted to smuggle NT$72 million (US$2.54 million at the current exchange rate) worth of rhino horns in their luggage from Eswatini to Taiwan, the bureau said.
An Agence de Presse Africaine report at the time said they were on Feb. 25, 2017, apprehended at King Mswati III International Airport with 24 pieces of chopped rhino horns from four killed animals.
Their repatriation was made possible by a bilateral prisoner-transfer agreement signed between Taiwan and the Kingdom of Eswatini in February 2019, in the first such agreement Taiwan has signed with an African country, the bureau said.
Under the pact, convicted offenders can be repatriated to serve out their sentences, while enforcement of the remaining prison time would be overseen by their home country, with authorities informing their counterparts when an inmate has completed their term or received conditional release.
Following the prisoner-transfer agreement and pleas from their family members that Hsiao and Chen could serve their jail terms in Taiwan, the bureau said that the Ministry of Justice began seeking their repatriation in 2020, but the plan was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS