Eleven people have been indicted for allegedly collecting, storing and processing waste without a license to support an operation that was illegally exporting it, Taoyuan prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.
The Northern Center of Environmental Management informed the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office about the operation, which is believed to have begun in March 2023, the statement said.
During searches on Feb. 7, investigators found about 5,549 tonnes of plastic waste stored at three facilities in Sinwu (新屋) and Jhongli (中壢) districts, Ministry of Environment officials said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Investigators learned that 5,832 tonnes of waste had been shipped overseas, the office said, adding that NT$394.79 million (US$10.73 million) of suspected illegal gains was confiscated.
Six companies involved in unlicensed waste operations could be fined up to NT$10 million each by the Taoyuan Department of Environmental Protection, Deputy Minister of Environment Shen Chih-hsiu (沈志修) said.
The 11 people were indicted for operating landfills and storing, processing and disposing waste without a license, offenses that carry a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of NT$15 million, Shen said.
The environment ministry, prosecutors and police have been part of an alliance to tackle breaches of environmental protection laws since 2011, Deputy Minister of Justice Hsu Hsi-hsiang (徐錫祥) said.
Over the past 14 years, the alliance has used technology and a division of specialists to investigate environmental crimes, Hsu said.
Prosecutors have seized illegal gains and assessed how well sites were restored to how they were prior to being used as dumps to determine what level of sentencing they would push for, he said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
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