Police arrested a Ghanaian national suspected of illegally staying in Taiwan for an estimated 33 years, after officers noticed her “acting suspiciously” when they approached her in New Taipei City’s Lujhou District (蘆洲).
Officers were patrolling the streets of Lujhou at about 7am on Oct. 14 when they spotted the woman, who tried to hide as they got closer to her, Lujhou Police Station head Chiang Yen-shao (蔣延紹) said on Saturday.
The officers asked the woman to identify herself, but she failed to produce a valid residence permit or a passport, Chiang said.
Photo copied by Liu Ching-ho, Taipei Times
Police investigated and found that the 63-year-old woman is from Ghana. She entered Taiwan for the first time in June 1989 after a transit from Hong Kong and left in March 1990, Chiang said.
However, there are no immigration records to show when the woman re-entered Taiwan, police said.
Police quoted the Ghanaian national as saying, through an interpreter, that she lives alone in a rented residence and works as a cleaner for a living.
Further investigation is needed to determine why there are no immigration records for her re-entry into Taiwan and how she was able to reside in Taiwan illegally for so long without being discovered, police said.
The woman has been handed over to prosecutors for further investigation on suspicion of contravening Taiwan’s immigration law, police said.
She is being held in a shelter provided by the New Taipei City service center of the National Immigration Agency.
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