Police officers yesterday busted a criminal ring allegedly involved in illicit remittance services and detained 21 people, the National Police Agency said.
The group was allegedly headed by Chen Sheng-hu (陳生琥), an alleged leader of the Bamboo Union’s “Scorpio” chapter, and alleged Heavenly Way Alliance member Tseng Chia-wei (曾家偉), it said, adding that raids had been conducted over the past few weeks
Chen and some associates were apprehended in Chiayi City, while Tseng was detained in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), the agency said.
Officers seized modified handguns, ammunition, computers, mobile phones, account books, drugs, as well as counterfeit banknotes used to deceive users of the remittance service, it said.
Police also seized personal items from the group members, including luxury watches and cash, which prosecutors suspect to be connected to the group’s illicit activities, it said.
The group allegedly advertised its services on Facebook and other social media sites, offering lower handling fees and exchange rates than established remittance services, it said.
Profit made from the services is up to NT$42.46 million (US$1.51 million), the agency added.
One of the alleged victims, a businessman surnamed Lin (林), reported being defrauded of NT$15 million, it said, adding that the group issued receipts for the amount.
Lin tried to transfer the money to a friend in South Korea, who said he was given counterfeit won bills, it said.
The handover of the money was arranged in a crowded public place so that the recipient could not immediately count the money, the agency said, adding that investigators suspect the involvement of Bamboo Union members in the country.
Chen, Tseng and other members would be charged with fraud, forgery and operating an unlicensed banking service, it said.
Separately, eight Bamboo Union members were detained in a raid following an investigation focused on loan sharking and kidnapping in Tainan on Thursday, police said.
Police also freed a businessman surnamed Huang (黃), who had allegedly been kidnapped and held for three days, they said, adding that they suspect that the Taipei-based Mingren Branch of the Bamboo Union, allegedly headed by 23-year-old Wang Hao-kuang (王皓廣), was involved.
Huang managed a vehicle rental company, for which he took a NT$4 million loan from the suspects, police said.
When Huang was unable to pay back the loan, Wang and his associates allegedly kidnapped him in Tainan and took him to New Taipei City, where they beat him up, they said.
Prosecutors said the suspects would be charged with assault, kidnapping and breaching the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例).
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS