Authorities investigating international human trafficking rings have arrested suspects in Taipei, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung this week as they look to help their victims return to Taiwan.
Taipei police said they arrested four suspects they believe work for a group headed by a man surnamed Su (蘇) and seized records indicating that the group had sent 17 young Taiwanese to Cambodia.
Searches were conducted on Monday at several locations in Taipei and other cities after family members of victims gave information to the authorities, said Huang Li-heng (黃立恆), a captain at the Criminal Investigation Division in Taipei.
Photo courtesy of the National Immigration Agency via CNA
“When gathering evidence and tracking down members of this group, we managed to stop a female victim from boarding a flight to Cambodia,” Huang said at a news conference yesterday.
The criminal ring headed by Su had circulated job adverts on social media, which touted high pay and easy work, along with the promise that “we take care of everything for you, including air tickets, accommodation and daily meals.”
Those promises are lies and such adverts target young people who lack social and work experience, Huang said.
“Once the victim arrives in Cambodia, their passport and mobile phone are taken, they are confined and ordered to make calls for telecom scams. They are beaten up if they do not cooperate,” he said.
Among the four people arrested was a woman surnamed Yeh (葉), who was allegedly hired to gain the confidence of women with promises of easy money, as Su’s group specifically targeted young female jobseekers, he said.
“We are working with the families of the 17 victims linked to this case, of which four have been rescued, although they had to pay US$20,000 each to a human trafficking gang in Cambodia... We are doing everything we can to find the other victims and get them home,” Huang said.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung police said that officers arrested members of a trafficking ring headed by a man surnamed Tsai (蔡), nicknamed “Brother Dan” (丹哥), as well as evidence of them colluding with Cambodian traffickers.
Officers raided locations in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County earlier this week and took five people in for questioning, Kaohsiung Police Captain Hong Sung-tien (洪松田) said yesterday.
Hong said that this human trafficking ring has a clear connection with a Taiwanese man surnamed Liu (劉), a Kaohsiung resident who, when the job scams started receiving publicity, departed with his wife to Cambodia.
“We have gathered evidence that Liu is an important suspect who collaborated with Taiwanese gangsters to send people to Cambodia. The main contact was Brother Dan and Liu would wire US$3,000 commission for each Taiwanese who landed in Cambodia, where Liu’s gang would take over,” Hong said.
Separately, Hsinchu County police arrested a man surnamed Yen (顏), who is suspected of having participated in a scheme to send a 30-year-old woman to Cambodia, who is now reported missing.
A search of Yen’s residence found evidence that he booked the 30-year-old woman’s flight and had contact with the victim, Hsinchu police officer Yang Tsung-kun (楊宗昆) said.
Yen is likely to be charged for contravening the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法), he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS