The New Taipei District Court ruled late on Saturday night that a Chinese man who attempted to enter Taiwan on a rubber dinghy be detained and held incommunicado for illegal entry into the country.
The court ruled that the man was suspected of contravening the Immigration Act (入出境及移民法), and that he posed a flight risk and might collude with accomplices.
The New Taipei City Fire Department reported the 30-year-old man, surnamed Wang (王), at 6:30am on Saturday, after he was seen near the Houkeng River (後坑溪) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said.
Photo copied by Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
CGA personnel were dispatched to the scene and found Wang in a rubber dinghy about 100m from the shore, the CGA said, adding that they assisted the man to shore and sent him to the hospital, as he was severely dehydrated.
The rubber dinghy was not rowed to Taiwan’s shores, but driven with an outboard motor, the CGA said.
When questioned, Wang was quoted as saying that he was in debt in China and hoped to start a new life in Taiwan.
The CGA said that Wang’s statement matched the identification documents he brought with him and he was transferred to prosecutors for investigation at 8:45pm.
The prosecutors’ office said they suspected Wang had illegally entered Taiwan, and requested the court detain him incommunicado as he posed a flight risk and might collude with accomplices.
Meanwhile, the CGA said the rubber dinghy was relatively small and moved at a slow speed, which made it undetectable by radar.
Radar playback did not reveal anything out of the ordinary either, it said, adding that small targets cannot be detected without infrared thermal imaging equipment.
The CGA said it is working on establishing infrared thermal imaging equipment and other surveillance technologies, enhancing drone capabilities and constructing new types of vessels to improve its detection and monitoring capabilities.
No human error by CGA personnel was involved in the incident, but Taiwan needs to improve its maritime border control, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS