Police on Saturday arrested a fugitive surnamed Chen (陳) on suspicion of heading a criminal ring based in Kaohsiung that allegedly assisted Vietnamese and Chinese in illegally entering Taiwan via ocean routes.
Police apprehended Chen, 50, who had been on the run for seven years, in Hsinchu County’s Sinfong Township (新豐), the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) Investigation Branch said.
Chen allegedly began colluding with foreign crime rings and engaging in human smuggling in 2017, CGA officials said.
Photo copied by Hung Ting-hung, Taipei Times
Investigators cited evidence and witness statements linking him to at least nine such cases, for which he had been arrested and released on bail several times in the past seven years.
The courts combined several cases, convicting Chen of contravening the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), and sentenced him to eight years and two months in prison, but he appealed the decision and went on the run. Authorities issued a wanted bulletin for him in 2022.
Evidence showed that Chen led operations involving the use of vessels to smuggle Vietnamese into Taiwan to work in the underground economy, the officials said.
He also plotted to help Chinese illegally enter Taiwan, they said.
Chen colluded with alleged international gangs, the officials said, adding that the operation he led brought more than 200 Vietnamese into Taiwan, mainly using vessels that landed on the south coast in areas such as Kaohsiung, and Pingtung and Taitung counties.
One operation in 2018 used a motorized rubber dinghy which capsized, resulting in the deaths of three Vietnamese near Taitung County, they said.
Criminal Investigation Bureau investigators said they received a tip-off earlier this year that a Cameroon-flagged cargo ship heading to Taiwan had Vietnamese illegally aboard, and by monitoring Chen’s telephone calls they discovered that he was in charge of the operation, the officials said.
Chen escaped arrest last month by ramming his car against a police cruiser, seriously injuring a CGA officer, who required surgery, they said.
Coast guard patrol ships intercepted the cargo ship off the Port of Kaohsiung, and found 15 Vietnamese aboard who would have entered Taiwan illegally, the officials said.
The ship’s captain and four crew members are Taiwanese and are facing indictments for human smuggling.
Lawmakers amended the Immigration Act last year and imposed tougher penalties for those convicted of human smuggling, so Chen is likely to face a harsher punishment if found guilty, the officials said.
The amended articles stipulate that those engaging or assisting in illegal entry face a sentence of up to seven years in prison and a fine of NT$1 million (US$30,714). The amendment went into effect on March 1.
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