A Taiwanese fishing boat carrying Vietnamese migrants was intercepted off the coast of Yilan on Friday night and 46 people were arrested, the Coast Guard Administration said yesterday.
Forty of the people arrested were Vietnamese nationals — 25 men and 15 women — who were packed into a space only 1.2m high, the administration said.
The other six people were the captain and crew of the Wun Shun Man No. 66, a fishing vessel registered in Kaohsiung, the administration said.
The boat was intercepted 9.2 nautical miles (17km) off the coast of Yilan after the administration received a tip-off about “illegal immigrants” onboard the vessel, Northern Coastal Patrol Office deputy chief Shen Da-wei (沈大偉) said.
The boat’s captain, surnamed Chen (陳), and crew — two Taiwanese and three Indonesians — were arrested with the migrants and turned over to the Yilan Prosecutors’ Office for investigation over alleged violations of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), Shen said.
The Vietnamese first went to China, where they boarded the Taiwanese fishing boat for a four-day journey, the administration said.
They were charged between US$4,000 and US$6,500 each to board the boat, the administration said.
Shen said that Vietnamese immigrants trying to enter Taiwan illegally often pool their money to buy a boat in China and then abandon the vessel when it reaches Taiwan.
He said yesterday’s case was an indication that they were changing tactics.
Yesterday’s arrest was the highest number of Vietnamese detained in Taiwan for attempting illegal entry, the administration said.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS