CRIME
Kaohsiung indicts 18
Eighteen people were indicted by Kaohsiung prosecutors on Wednesday on suspicion of engaging in money laundering in online gambling platforms that allegedly earned them illicit profits estimated at NT$80.6 million (US$2.46 million). The prime suspect, a 41-year-old man surnamed, Lee (李), and 17 others were charged with contraventions of the Criminal Code, the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例), the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said. Lee allegedly set up several dummy accounts for deposits in Vietnamese dong and recruited people to launder money from online gambling platforms, the office said. The operation was undertaken remotely, with Lee renting two residential apartments in Kaohsiung’s Sanmin District (三民), at which the computer equipment providing the service was installed, the office said. The ring was found to have laundered 10.99 trillion Vietnamese dong (US$432.38 million) in two years, it said.
CRIME
Passport suspect indicted
The head of a Taipei immigration services company has been indicted for allegedly selling forged Burkina Faso passports, Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The suspect, a woman surnamed Lai (賴), targeted parents looking to get their children into international schools in Taiwan that restrict admission to foreign passport holders, the office said. Lai obtained the fake passports from a man named Daniel Wang and sold seven of the forgeries for roughly US$16,000 each between 2018 and last year, it said. Despite Lai’s claims that she thought the passports were genuine, text messages indicated that she was aware of the fraud and colluded with Wang, it said. A separate investigation into Wang has been launched.
CRIME
Theft of coins probed
An investigation was launched this week over the theft of coins and other items from a warehouse, Tainan police said, adding that a Vietnamese woman has been questioned regarding the matter. The 44-year-old woman is suspected to have stolen goods and money worth a total of NT$460,000, the Tainan City Police Department said. Among the items that were taken were approximately 2,200 NT$50 coins, 400 NT$5 coins, 1,600 NT$10 coins, 100 NT$1,000 bills and a gold necklace, the department said. The victim, who had saved money by collecting coins, reported the burglary about a week ago, it said. The items were recovered from the woman’s residence and returned to the victim.
DIPLOMACY
Turkey to get sewing gear
Taiwan has signed an agreement to donate sewing machines and other equipment to support the livelihoods of women in a municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Mission in Ankara said. The agreement was inked at a ceremony on Monday by Representative to Turkey Huang Chih-yang (黃志揚) and Ismet Yildirim, the mayor of Umraniye, which is to receive the aid. Taiwan has worked with the Turkish government and non-governmental organizations on humanitarian aid and programs for the empowerment of women for many years, Huang said. Last year, Taiwan’s donations to Turkey for post-earthquake reconstruction efforts prompted Turkish parliamentarian Tugba Isik Ercan to reach out to the mission for help to enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged women in Turkey, Huang said. The municipality offers courses on sewing, which are especially popular among women, Yildirim said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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