Six Indonesian crewmen suspected of murdering the skipper and chief engineer of a Taiwanese fishing boat last month have been detained, while three others have been referred to Indonesian authorities in Taiwan, the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Six of the nine Indonesians employed on the Suao-registered Te Hung Hsing No. 368 are suspected of involvement in throwing the fishing boat’s skipper, Chen Te-sheng (陳德生), and chief engineer, Ho Chang-lin (何昌琳), overboard in the eastern Pacific, Yilan prosecutors said after questioning the crewmen on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said a senior Indonesian crewman had an argument with Chen over work assignments. The sparring developed into a conflict in which the Indonesian is alleged to have attacked Chen with a plastic float. Chen fell unconscious and other Indonesian workers allegedly threw him overboard, followed by Ho.
The boat was later intercepted by two Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol vessels and towed back to Suao (蘇澳), where the suspects were referred to prosecution authorities for questioning. The three who were handed over to the Indonesian authorities in Taiwan are suspected of illegally taking control of the vessel and causing damage to the property, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The Te Hung Hsing No. 368 left Nanfangao in Yilan County on Jan. 18 to fish in the eastern Pacific. It lost contact with the ship’s owner in Yilan on July 16. The CGA was informed two days later that the ship’s skipper and chief engineer, the only two Taiwanese on board, had not been in contact for three days.
At the time, the fishing boat was 10,945km southeast of Oluanpi at the southernmost tip of Taiwan. A CGA patrol vessel caught up with the fishing boat in waters 623 nautical miles (1,154km) southwest of Kiribati on July 27. CGA officers did not find any sign of the boat’s skipper or chief engineer upon boarding and searching the boat. The CGA then sent another patrol vessel to help with the investigation.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese