Six Vietnamese have been arrested after they were found with 400kg of old-growth Taiwan cypress believed to have been cut down in illegal logging operations in Nantou County, the National Police Agency (NPA) said yesterday.
The 14 wood blocks of Taiwan cypress, an endemic protected species classified as “precious,” could likely sell for more than NT$1 million (US$33,770) on the black market, the agency said.
The suspects, five men and one woman aged in their 20s and 30s, face charges of contravening the Forestry Act (森林法), NPA official Tsai Wen-cheng (蔡文正) said.
“We believe the group leader is a 28-year-old man surnamed Nguyen, who allegedly headed up the illegal logging operations, and was in charge of finding buyers for the valuable wood blocks,” Tsai said.
Five of the suspects are migrant workers who absconded from their contracted employment, while one was working in Taiwan legally, Tsai said.
The Nantou County Forest District Office earlier this year reported finding protected tree species chopped down in the county’s high mountain region, which they suspected was the work of a group of “mountain rats” (山老鼠) — a criminal ring that puts up camps in mountainous areas to illegally cut trees or poach wild animals, including endangered species, or engage in other illegal activity that cause environmental damage.
That prompted the NPA to form a task force to investigate, Tsai said.
Officers tracked the suspected activities of Nguyen’s group, finding where the trees had been cut down, the transportation route used in the mountains and the meeting points for potential buyers, Tsai said.
The agency on June 17 raided their suspected hiding place, a building in Changhua County’s Beidou Township (北斗), Tsai added.
Police also seized evidence of illegal logging, including a circular saw, three metal-frame backpacks, three pairs of wading boots for traversing streams and other tools, along with two vehicles for transporting logs, Tsai said.
The agency asked the public to help safeguard the nation’s forests by providing information on any suspected illegal logging or poaching by contacting local police or calling the Forestry Bureau’s hotline, 0800-000-930.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS