The police have launched an investigation into the activities of Bamboo Union, the nation's largest gang, according to a National Police Administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The probe comes after police arrested several Bamboo Union members for their involvement in violent clashes at CKS International Airport on April 26, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
The police source said gangs have recently stepped up their involvement in political rallies in a bid to win protection from influential politicians.
"Organized criminal groups have appeared at political rallies in recent years," the police official said. "They think if they protect those parties in rallies, [the parties] can protect them from being charged with crimes."
Pro-China stance
Of Taiwan's gangs, the Bamboo Union, which is composed largely of Mainlanders and has a history of links to the KMT, has become most involved at political rallies, the official said -- motivated in part by its strong pro-China stance. The union opposes the Taiwan independence movement.
Police last week arrested two Bamboo Union gangsters, Chang Hun-ko (
Police also arrested Chu Chia-hsun (
The officials said that Chu and his ex-wife, Wang Lan (
Police said Chang Hun-ko was the union's Lion Division (
Chang beat up the owner of a company in Kaoshiung who refused to withdraw from a bid, police said. Wu Gin-chen was accused of intimidating companies into giving the gang protection money, police said.
gangster politicians
The official said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) used to include some gangsters-turned-politicians, the most notorious being Pingtung County Council speaker Cheng Tai-chi (
He said Cheng went all out to campaign for Wu Tse-yuan (
Wu was convicted of corruption and fraud for his involvement, as a then-KMT member and director of the Taiwan Provincial Government's Planning and Development Department, in a kickback scandal over the 1992 Sipiantou water-pumping station project for Taipei County.
Cheng was arrested for the murder of Chung Yuan-feng (
He said that while local gangsters such as Cheng have traditionally entered politics purely for profit, Bamboo Union gangsters were also driven by pro-China ideology.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash