Two leaders of a job scam operation linked to kidnappings and the deaths of three people were sentenced to life in prison, the Shilin District Court said yesterday.
The Taipei court handed life sentences to Fu Yu-lin (傅榆藺) and Chen Hua-wei (陳樺韋), who headed the operation, while 27 others received prison sentences ranging from 14 months to 29-and-a-half years.
The 11-month joint trial of the 29 suspects resulted in Fu and Chen being found guilty of more than 300 counts each, among them kidnapping resulting in death, fraud, armed robbery, forced drug abuse, organized crime and improper disposal of a body.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Police Department
Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲), a third leader of the crime ring who allegedly gave orders to Fu and Chen, was captured in April after fleeing authorities and is being tried separately.
Fu, Chen and others in September last year began asking people who rented residences in Taoyuan’s Jhongli (中壢) or New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) districts to attend interviews for high-paying jobs, prosecutors said.
Others responded to online offers to “rent out” inactive bank accounts for large sums of money, they said.
People who responded to the ads for either offer were held against their will by members of the operation, who took their bankbooks, account passwords and IDs, they said.
They were held at two locations for periods ranging from a few days to more than a month, prosecutors said.
The stolen bank accounts were used to commit fraud and launder money as part of a broader scheme that took in about NT$390 million (US$12.34 million) in illicit gains from more than 250 people, they said.
People who were held captive told prosecutors that they were often fed only one meal a day, forced to take sleeping pills, and were beaten, tasered or pepper-sprayed if they talked or did not follow orders.
Police in November last year found 35 people being held in an apartment in Taoyuan and 26 in a Tamsui residence.
The operation resulted in the deaths of three captives, with two bodies discovered in Taoyuan’s Gueishan District (龜山) and one in Nantou County, the court said.
The body found in Nantou was that of a 38-year-old man who fell to his death from the 11th floor after crawling out of a bathroom window in an attempt to escape on Oct. 17 last year, authorities said.
The two others, a 45-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man, both had chronic medical conditions and died after being held for 32 days and 16 days respectively, they said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS