Top judiciary officials on Thursday lauded the diligence of assistant detective Lin Sheng-chan (林聖展), Yilan County head prosecutor Chou Yi-chun (周懿君) and other rank-and-file officers on their successful investigation into a Chinese spying case that saw eight military personnel indicted earlier this week.
Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) convened a review meeting in Yilan County after the indictment, praising prosecutors and investigators who worked on the case and handing out boxes of fruit as rewards.
“It is every citizen’s responsibility to protect our national security,” he said. “This is the first time such a case has been cracked by a rank-and-file police investigator. It should be a model lesson for all judiciary officers.”
Photo courtesy of the High Prosecutors’ Office
Hsing singled out Lin for his work and initiative during the investigation, and his father, Lin Chih-hsien (林志賢), a police detective at the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), and other prosecutors for contributing to the investigation.
Hsing at the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office thanked local prosecutors and police for setting up a “national security investigation team” and working many hours on the case.
Hsing said the team coordinated by Lin Sheng-chan applied for warrants to carry out six searches in eight months.
Lin Sheng-chan’s father also provided assistance, passing on investigation experience to the team.
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged eight current and former military personnel and two civilians, including Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨), aged 31, deputy chapter head of the Sun Alliance (太陽聯盟) and chairwoman of Taoist Rueiyao Temple in New Taipei City, for allegedly developing a spy network for China in contravention of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法).
Lin Sheng-chan, assistant detective at Yilan’s Luodong Police Precinct, together with a CIB probe into vote-buying allegations in Yilan last year, came across conversations by a person who said they knew of someone offering “military secrets” for sale
Lin Sheng-chan reported this to prosecutors and was requested to initiate a separate investigation.
At about that time, the Ministry of National Defense’s Political Warfare Bureau also received tip-offs from some officers, resulting in the Military Police Command starting its own investigation.
Later, the national security case was passed on to the High Prosecutors’ Office to track down the people allegedly engaged in spying.
“While examining a vote-buying suspect’s mobile phone, I came across a conversation with a military officer who alleged that someone was offering classified materials for sale. Right away I reported this to prosecutor Tseng Shan-lin (曾尚琳), who convened a meeting with our precinct and the CIB to set up a team working on the investigation,” Lin Sheng-chan said.
“We also have to thank my father, who I asked to assist on the case as a CIB detective. He is close to retirement, but was still willing to ask his superiors to join the investigation team,” he said.
Wang Sheng-hui (王盛輝), representing the High Prosecutors’ Office for the investigation team, said the case showed that local prosecutors’ offices have the competency to take on national security cases.
Yilan head prosecutor Chou said the “Sun Alliance” is a local Taiwanese gang linked to financials flows abroad.
The case is indicative of a change from past practices of infiltration and espionage in which Chinese intelligence officers would target businesspeople working in China, or people with pro-China political leanings, Chou said.
“Now we see China is infiltrating Taiwan’s religious temples and local gangsters to conduct espionage,” he said.
“Through temples and local gangs, Chinese intelligence officers could reach military personnel circles and those with financial difficulties, thereby being able to penetrate the nation’s rank-and-file military units,” Chou said.
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