Police on Wednesday night arrested 10 members of the Bamboo Union organized-crime network for allegedly extorting money from popular singer Yu Tien (
"Bamboo Union gangsters Cheng Chien-cheng (鄭建誠), Lai Chien-hung (賴建鴻) and other gangsters were often hired by creditors to threaten debtors to repay money," the Criminal Investigation Bureau said in a press statement. "The police have determined that they threatened victims, beat them or kidnapped them. They have had a bad impact on public order."
Police said Cheng, Lai and the other suspects said that Yu owed them NT$6 million (US$191,000). In March they went to Yu's father's home in Hsinchu County, poured paint on the doors and walls and wrote on the wall, threatening to hurt Yu's family if the payments were not made.
Yu then reported the matter to the police, whose investigation indicated that Cheng and Lai had organized the extortion attempt in conjunction with other Bamboo Union gangsters.
Police said they spent more than two months gathering evidence before swooping. More than 80 police raided 11 locations in Taichung and Tainan counties on Wednesday night.
Yu and his wife, singer Lee Ya-ping (
Lee told reporters that Yu was so unnerved by the threats that he had to see a psychiatrist. Yu added that he did not owe anybody money.
Police said Cheng, Lai and the other gangsters had threatened alleged debtors on at least six occasions. In February, they threatened a businessman surnamed Lin and received NT$8.7 million from him.
Police said that in April, Cheng and Lai led the gangsters to abduct a man surnamed Cho, and detained him in a Taichung hotel for 11 days. The gangsters had asked Cho to call his aunt and have her meet them at a Taichung bus station. The gangsters planned to kidnap Cho's aunt when she arrived, police said.
Instead, Cho's aunt contacted police, who accompanied her to the station.
Police said Cho was eventually released after paying the gangsters NT$300,000.
Yu is one of the most popular singers in the country and is considered influential in entertainment circles because of his role in resolving disputes.
He has said he might run for a Taipei City councilor's seat in the next election.
The Bamboo Union is one of the biggest criminal rings in Taiwan. The network is dominated by Mainlanders, and has been actively involved in pan-blue political activities since its inception.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS