The Republic of China Army Command yesterday relieved Kinmen Defense Battalion commander after authorities indicted the officer on charges connected to using methamphetamine.
The Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday detained Colonel He (何) after the Coast Guard linked him to drug shipments and proceeded to charge him yesterday for using and possessing crystal meth.
The man was released on a NT$50,000 bail and banned from leaving Kinmen, the office said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) told a news conference yesterday that He has been removed and another officer is taking over the unit as the acting commander.
The military is committed to rooting out drugs in its ranks by swiftly and severely dealing with any service member found guilty of their use, he said.
Disciplinary proceedings against the officer would be conducted depending on the judgement of the justice system with no leniency or compromise, Chen said.
The army is organizing a task force to investigate whether He had any accomplices and the evaluation procedure utilized for promotions is being scrutinized to exclude unsuitable candidates from leadership, he said.
The man was not recently tested for drugs as he was not required to undergo regular mandatory screenings and only became the commanding officer a month ago, Chen said.
Army personnel not included in the mandatory regular drug screening list are subjected to urine tests at random, and He was tested when serving as a staff officer, Chen added.
The Army Command cannot disclose past results of He’s tests as such matters are potential evidence used in the ongoing legal investigation, Chen said.
Separately, Lu Hsin-ting (盧星廷), an inspector at the Ministry of National Defense’s Department of Resource Planning, said that the ministry is working with the Ministry of the Interior to amend laws governing penalties for evading the military draft.
Changes to the Military Service System Violation Punishment Act (妨害兵役治罪條例) must be calibrated to align with Enforcement Statute for Substitute Services (替代役實施條例) to ensure legal consistency, he said.
The two ministries would announce the proposed changes to the law when ready, he said.
Additional reporting by Wu Chung-ting
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS