CRIME
Kaohsiung indicts 18
Eighteen people were indicted by Kaohsiung prosecutors on Wednesday on suspicion of engaging in money laundering in online gambling platforms that allegedly earned them illicit profits estimated at NT$80.6 million (US$2.46 million). The prime suspect, a 41-year-old man surnamed, Lee (李), and 17 others were charged with contraventions of the Criminal Code, the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例), the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said. Lee allegedly set up several dummy accounts for deposits in Vietnamese dong and recruited people to launder money from online gambling platforms, the office said. The operation was undertaken remotely, with Lee renting two residential apartments in Kaohsiung’s Sanmin District (三民), at which the computer equipment providing the service was installed, the office said. The ring was found to have laundered 10.99 trillion Vietnamese dong (US$432.38 million) in two years, it said.
CRIME
Passport suspect indicted
The head of a Taipei immigration services company has been indicted for allegedly selling forged Burkina Faso passports, Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The suspect, a woman surnamed Lai (賴), targeted parents looking to get their children into international schools in Taiwan that restrict admission to foreign passport holders, the office said. Lai obtained the fake passports from a man named Daniel Wang and sold seven of the forgeries for roughly US$16,000 each between 2018 and last year, it said. Despite Lai’s claims that she thought the passports were genuine, text messages indicated that she was aware of the fraud and colluded with Wang, it said. A separate investigation into Wang has been launched.
CRIME
Theft of coins probed
An investigation was launched this week over the theft of coins and other items from a warehouse, Tainan police said, adding that a Vietnamese woman has been questioned regarding the matter. The 44-year-old woman is suspected to have stolen goods and money worth a total of NT$460,000, the Tainan City Police Department said. Among the items that were taken were approximately 2,200 NT$50 coins, 400 NT$5 coins, 1,600 NT$10 coins, 100 NT$1,000 bills and a gold necklace, the department said. The victim, who had saved money by collecting coins, reported the burglary about a week ago, it said. The items were recovered from the woman’s residence and returned to the victim.
DIPLOMACY
Turkey to get sewing gear
Taiwan has signed an agreement to donate sewing machines and other equipment to support the livelihoods of women in a municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Mission in Ankara said. The agreement was inked at a ceremony on Monday by Representative to Turkey Huang Chih-yang (黃志揚) and Ismet Yildirim, the mayor of Umraniye, which is to receive the aid. Taiwan has worked with the Turkish government and non-governmental organizations on humanitarian aid and programs for the empowerment of women for many years, Huang said. Last year, Taiwan’s donations to Turkey for post-earthquake reconstruction efforts prompted Turkish parliamentarian Tugba Isik Ercan to reach out to the mission for help to enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged women in Turkey, Huang said. The municipality offers courses on sewing, which are especially popular among women, Yildirim said.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
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