Authorities have arrested a retired colonel for allegedly passing on military information to China in return for money and sex.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said that they raided the Pingtung County residence of a retired colonel surnamed Lan (藍) last month and have sufficient evidence to charge him with breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and offenses against state security.
The judiciary, military intelligence and police agencies formed a task force two years ago to investigate Lan after allegations that he was recruited to work for China after his retirement and went to work at a textile factory in Dongguan City in China’s Guangdong Province.
Lan graduated from the National Defense University’s Management College in 1982 and supervised education and training programs at the university to cultivate unit commanders and officers.
He retired in 1996.
Lan secured an executive position at the Dongguan textile factory with a monthly salary of NT$90,000.
After divorcing his wife, he allegedly frequented hostess nightclubs and had relationships with several women while living in China, the Chinese-language Mirror Media reported.
Knowing his habits, Chinese intelligence officials targeted Lan by using women to seduce him and arranged the position for him at the textile factory, authorities said.
Investigators said that documents show Lan passed on the personal information of six colonels and lieutenant colonels, as well as other university officers and military unit members, to China.
Lan allegedly also passed on other classified military materials provided by his former colleagues, and that he had agreed to develop a spy network in Taiwan to conduct espionage for China.
Lan, 58, has denied the allegations, authorities said.
Lan’s time at the university helped him establish links with young officers who went on to work in the Military Intelligence Bureau, the National Security Bureau and the Military Security Brigade’s counterintelligence section, and the military might have been considerably compromised, prosecutors said.
Lan returned to Taiwan in 2016, and investigators, after receiving tip-offs about his espionage activities, put him under surveillance.
It was believed that he was being instructed by Beijing to contact former colleagues and friends to develop a spy network in Taiwan’s intelligence agencies and various top military units.
Raids were conducted last month, but due to the sensitive nature of the case, authorities only released the information recently.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS