Police on Friday seized 24 guns, 1,200 bullet cartridges and narcotics in a series of raids in New Taipei City.
A 29-year-old man surnamed Cheng (鄭), who is allegedly a member of the Heavenly Way Alliance, has been placed in detention and might face firearms and drug charges, the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release yesterday.
Two dozen guns were confiscated, in addition to 14.33kg of mephedrone, 969 bags of ketamine mixed with amphetamine and other substances, and 40 bags of ketamine, the office said.
Photo: CNA
Authorities suspect that Cheng was providing guns for other members of the gang and led a drug ring that operated in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), it said.
Two of Cheng’s alleged associates, one surnamed Pan (潘) and another surnamed Wang (王), were released on bail of NT$70,000 and NT$20,000 respectively, the office said, adding that a fourth suspect is still at large.
Law enforcement officials said that intelligence from another investigation revealed that the Heavenly Way Alliance might be storing arms in New Taipei City.
The Criminal Investigation Division, Taipei’s Zhongshan Police Precinct and the National Police Bureau’s Special Task Unit then created a task force to organize the raids, they said.
Police said that Cheng was arrested in an apartment in Tamsui that contained drugs, while a shed on a property he rented contained one cache of guns, and a second cache of guns was found when police searched Wang’s home.
Rifles, submachine guns and semi-automatic shotguns were among the weapons recovered during the raids, the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division said on Friday.
The serial numbers and design suggest that some of the guns were manufactured in an illegal arms factory in the Philippines, police said.
The pistols were mostly genuine Beretta and Ceska zbrojovka weapons, although one handgun was likley created in an illegal workshop, police said.
Additional reporting by Chen Chia-yu
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
RSS