The Tainan branch of the High Prosecutors’ Office has indicted 23 people, including eight active servicemen, on charges of spying for China.
Tainan prosecutors launched an investigation in April after the Political Warfare Bureau received a tip-off from a soldier in 2022, the branch said on Wednesday.
Forty-nine people were summoned for questioning, following four waves of searches in 29 locations.
Photo: Taipei Times file
Cellphones, computers, nine pieces of confidential military information and one classified document were seized.
The alleged ringleaders, two brothers surnamed Hsu (許), and another accomplice surnamed Sun (孫), were held incommunicado, the branch said.
The eight servicemen, who allegedly spied on military bases nationwide, were from three branches of the armed forces and the Coast Guard Administration.
The highest-ranked officer served as an army captain, prosecutors said.
The Hsu brothers were found to have traveled several times to Macau and the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Zhuhai in China’s Guandong Province, where they were recruited in September 2021 by two Chinese businessmen tasked with collecting Taiwan-related military information, prosecutors said.
From January 2022, the Hsu brothers lured Sun and 12 other people, offering them NT$2,000 to NT$30,000 (US$63 to US$939) for each active serviceman they recruited, they said.
The two also sought to woo active servicemen who were in debt through pawnshops and online loan companies, encouraging them to steal military information or secretly photograph military bases, the prosecutors said.
The Hsu brothers allegedly approached 21 active servicemen, with eight agreeing to obtain information and send intelligence to them and Sun, who would reproduce the information and send it to their Chinese associates, they added.
Prosecutors estimated that the Hsu brothers made up to NT$3.97 million in illicit gains over the past two years, while Sun made up to NT$266,400.
The eight indicted active servicemen might have also earned between NT$10,000 and NT$193,736, prosecutors said.
They were indicted on charges of contravening the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
The Hsu brothers, Sun and the 12 other suspects were indicted on charges of breaking the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act. No additional details on how the 12 suspects were involved was provided.
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