A Criminal Investigation Bureau crackdown on falsified license plates last week resulted in the arrest of a suspected middleman and 14 buyers, while 12 vehicles found with falsified plates were confiscated.
The use of falsified plates in Taiwan, has jumped to 450 from January to last month, up from 281 for the whole of last year and 172 for 2022, bureau data showed.
The bureau said that it has forwarded all cases to the Hsinchu County District Prosecutors’ Office, which would be leading a joint task force investigating the increase in falsified plates.
Photo courtesy of the police
Investigations began on Monday last week, and the general areas in which falsified plates originated and the residences of drivers using falsified plates were located, the bureau said.
The crackdown was launched simultaneously across New Taipei City, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Changhua and Chiayi counties, it said.
Twelve falsified car license plates, six falsified motorcycle plates and the 12 vehicles using the falsified plates were confiscated, and police also detained a 36 year-old suspect surnamed Kuo (郭), the bureau said.
All of the plates were ordered from Taiwan, manufactured in China, and shipped back to Taiwan for distribution, it said.
Police and local motor vehicle offices said that drivers’ attempts to avoid heavier fines for traffic offenses might be driving the use of falsified plates, and that some drivers might be acquiring falsified plates to conduct illegal activities.
Wei Wu-sheng (魏武盛), an official with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Monitoring and Surveillance Division, said that local motor vehicle offices are creating a “gray list” of license plate numbers they suspect have been duplicated for use as falsified plates.
Multiple measures are being considered to stop the proliferation of falsified plates, adding that the Highway Bureau is also looking into measures to compensate potential victims, Wei said.
The bureau said that any attempt to forge or sell falsified license plates contravenes Article 212 of the Criminal Code and is punishable by up to a year in prison.
Using falsified plates is in contravention of Article 216 of the Criminal Code, and perpetrators can be sentenced to up to a year in prison and fined NT$3,600 to NT$10,800 for contravening the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), it said.
Additional reporting by Chiu Chun-fu and Wu Liang-yi
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS