Officials were seeking the leaders of a fraud ring after a raid on a fishing boat found 20 people apparently seeking to flee Taiwan.
Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) yesterday lauded the efforts of law-enforcement agencies and ordered a thorough investigation into the alleged human-smuggling operation.
Coast Guard Administration personnel on Tuesday searched the Hai Yu No. 9 (海淯九號) at Kaohsiung Port and arrested 20 people, who had criminal records.
The suspects were below deck, apparently headed to a Southeast Asian country, investigators said.
Eighteen were alleged members of a telecom scam ring who had previously been indicted on fraud or related charges.
A court approved a request to detain the 18, citing the likelihood that they would collude or flee.The other two had convictions on drug charges and assault resulting in death. A bail hearing for the second two had not been concluded.
The group of 18 were mostly in their 20s, investigators said.
They were among 102 suspects expatriated to Taiwan in June after allegedly working at a telecom scam operation based in Bali, Indonesia, investigators said.
The 18 told investigators that they had paid the boat’s captain, surnamed Yeh (葉), 44, to take them to a Southeast Asian country, as they wanted to avoid prison for the fraud charges, they said.
Prosecutors said that the case involved the most Taiwanese seeking illegal egress from the nation.
The vessel and Yeh have prior records of smuggling, they said.
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