Judicial authorities are investigating the alleged sale of Republic of China passports to China-based gangs.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office last week indicted 13 people, including alleged operation heads Huang Shih-hsien (黃世賢) and Chiu Cheng-wen (邱政文), for alleged passport fraud.
In 2018, border control officials at international airports in Rome and Madrid alerted Taipei that they had stopped Chinese nationals who were using altered Taiwanese passports to enter the nations.
Photo: CNA
Taoyuan prosecutors coordinated with police and the National Immigration Agency’s (NIA) Border Affairs Corps in an investigation, leading the indictment of Huang, 48, and Chiu, 46, and the seizure of Taiwanese passports and other travel documents — including Chinese-issued “Taiwan Compatriot Permits” — for about a dozen people.
Eleven others were indicted for allegedly selling passports, contravening the Passport Act (護照條例), as well as breaches of the Criminal Code for allegedly causing a public official to make false records in public documents, and use of forged or altered documents.
Huang and Chiu made a lot of money through alleged illegal sales of Taiwanese passports to Chinese groups by seeking out impoverished people and paying them to apply for travel documents, the indictment said.
The case has damaged the credibility and international trust of the Taiwan passport, and compromised border controls and national security, it said.
From 2015 to 2019, Huang and Chiu would visit Taipei Railway Station and public parks, including Wanhua District’s (萬華) Bangka Park (艋舺公園), seeking out impoverished or homeless people, prosecutors said.
The pair would pay people up to NT$25,000 to apply for a passport, with help from travel agency staff who also assisted with applying for documents to travel to China, prosecutors said.
The people they recruited were also given cash to buy clothes and given tickets to fly to China, prosecutors said.
While in China, the recruits were taken to apply for bank accounts, they said, adding that they handed over their passports upon their return to Taiwan.
Huang and Chiu then sold the travel documents to Chinese groups for up to NT$300,000, prosecutors said, adding that the passports could be resold for up to US$50,000.
NIA officials said that the illegal passport trade is lucrative in China and there is high demand for Taiwanese passports, due to the nation’s reciprocal visa-free agreements with more than 100 countries.
Taiwanese passports are highly sought after by Chinese officials and businesspeople who are facing charges for economic crimes, or others facing prosecution and seeking to escape abroad, as well as wealthy families to move their assets outside China or seeking entry into the US, Canada or European countries, the NIA officials said.
Moreover, Chinese intelligence officials carry Taiwanese passports as cover, authorities said.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS