The Tainan branch of the High Prosecutors’ Office has indicted 23 people, including eight active servicemen, on charges of spying for China.
Tainan prosecutors launched an investigation in April after the Political Warfare Bureau received a tip-off from a soldier in 2022, the branch said on Wednesday.
Forty-nine people were summoned for questioning, following four waves of searches in 29 locations.
Photo: Taipei Times file
Cellphones, computers, nine pieces of confidential military information and one classified document were seized.
The alleged ringleaders, two brothers surnamed Hsu (許), and another accomplice surnamed Sun (孫), were held incommunicado, the branch said.
The eight servicemen, who allegedly spied on military bases nationwide, were from three branches of the armed forces and the Coast Guard Administration.
The highest-ranked officer served as an army captain, prosecutors said.
The Hsu brothers were found to have traveled several times to Macau and the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Zhuhai in China’s Guandong Province, where they were recruited in September 2021 by two Chinese businessmen tasked with collecting Taiwan-related military information, prosecutors said.
From January 2022, the Hsu brothers lured Sun and 12 other people, offering them NT$2,000 to NT$30,000 (US$63 to US$939) for each active serviceman they recruited, they said.
The two also sought to woo active servicemen who were in debt through pawnshops and online loan companies, encouraging them to steal military information or secretly photograph military bases, the prosecutors said.
The Hsu brothers allegedly approached 21 active servicemen, with eight agreeing to obtain information and send intelligence to them and Sun, who would reproduce the information and send it to their Chinese associates, they added.
Prosecutors estimated that the Hsu brothers made up to NT$3.97 million in illicit gains over the past two years, while Sun made up to NT$266,400.
The eight indicted active servicemen might have also earned between NT$10,000 and NT$193,736, prosecutors said.
They were indicted on charges of contravening the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
The Hsu brothers, Sun and the 12 other suspects were indicted on charges of breaking the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act. No additional details on how the 12 suspects were involved was provided.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS