Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted nine people who allegedly trafficked 88 young adults to work for Cambodia-based fraud rings.
Starting in November last year, the nine people received up to US$18,000 per person recruited, who were in two separate groups, prosecutors said.
The recruiters used Facebook to target young adults who were unemployed or had financial problems, offering them high-paying jobs at casinos or gaming clubs, prosecutors said, adding that the jobs that were promised were in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Photo: CNA
People duped by the scams were held against their will after they arrived in Sihanoukville and were forced to engage in phone scam operations, prosecutors said.
Those who did not perform satisfactorily were beaten, shocked or enslaved, they said.
They were also threatened with being buried alive, stories of people having their organs harvested or being transported to another place to face even worse conditions, the indictment said.
At least 88 people were trafficked by the two groups, including 18 who were rescued and have returned to Taiwan, prosecutors said.
The two groups received US$17,000 to US$18,000 for each person sent to Cambodia, prosecutors said.
Police arrested one group of three led by a man surnamed Lin (林) on May 5 and another group of six led by a man surnamed Lee (李) on July 5, and a court granted a request by prosecutors to detain six of them incommunicado.
The nine suspects were indicted on multiple counts of human trafficking, attempted fraud, interference with personal freedom and involvement in organized crime, prosecutors said.
In related news, two people surnamed Chen (陳) and Fu (傅) were arrested and questioned by prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday for suspected involvement in a separate human trafficking ring.
The two suspects were originally arrested in Taipei last month on suspicion of trafficking 20 people — some of whom live in Hualien County — to Cambodia for telecom fraud operations.
The cases were investigated by Hualien prosecutors and the suspects were released on bail on Thursday.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) said that they acquired new information on the two men after they were released and arrested them yesterday. They were still being questioned as of yesterday afternoon.
The New Taipei City case is separate from the Hualien case.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS