Authorities in Chiayi County have arrested five people suspected of illegally recruiting and arranging work in Taiwan for dozens of Thai nationals, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said on Tuesday.
The NIA’s Chiayi County Service Center said it began investigating the case in July after discovering 29 Thai nationals illegally working in Sikou Township (溪口).
During questioning, many of the Thai workers said they had been brought to Taiwan, housed, and even driven to and from their worksites by members of an illegal labor brokerage group headed by a man surnamed Lai (賴), the NIA said.
Photo: Tao Kai-shiou, Taipei Times
After gathering additional evidence, immigration officials and Chiayi prosecutors conducted an early morning raid on 10 locations, arresting Lai and four other members of the group and 51 Thai nationals working in Taiwan illegally.
Investigators also seized record and accounting books, cell phones and NT$220,000 in alleged illicit profits from the Taiwanese suspects, the NIA said.
Based on the initial findings of an investigation, the illegal labor brokerage group is believed to have used agents in Thailand and messaging apps to recruit Thai nationals to work in Taiwan, in return for recruitment fees ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$80,000.
After the foreign workers arrived in Taiwan, the group allegedly deducted NT$200 to NT$400 per day from their wages as a “brokerage fee,” as well as NT$100 per day for driving them to and from work and NT$2,000 to NT$2,700 per month for rent.
Lai and the four other members of the group are being investigated for violations of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) and the Employment Service Act (就業服務法), the NIA said.
They have yet to be charged.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
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