TECHNOLOGY
Drone firms in Germany
Fifteen companies from a Taiwanese drone industry delegation are in Germany to participate in a European drone industry trade fair, the delegation’s organizer, the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (TEDIBOA) said on Tuesday. A total of 184 companies from 33 countries are attending the Xponential Europe trade fair, which is being held in Dusseldorf, Germany, from Tuesday to today. The event bills itself as “the leading trade fair for uncrewed systems and robotics across all domains of autonomous technology.” Aerospace Industrial Development Corp chairman Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), who heads the TEDIBOA, said that the event marked the first international trip the alliance has organized to help its members seek out new business opportunities.
CRIME
Court upholds life sentence
The High Court yesterday upheld a life sentence for a man who stabbed a convenience store clerk to death after being asked to wear a mask. Chiang Chia-kai (蔣嘉凱), a Taoyuan paper sculptor, was originally given the death penalty for the November 2021 murder, which occurred during Taiwan’s strict COVID-19 pandemic mask mandate. The Taoyuan District Court’s December 2022 sentence was reduced when the case was automatically sent for appeal to the High Court. However, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial in April last year, on the grounds that the High Court had failed to explain why it had accepted a psychological evaluation favorable to Chiang while disregarding an unfavorable one. In yesterday’s retrial, the High Court ruled that Chiang still qualified for a reduced sentence as he voluntarily surrendered, a factor not considered sufficiently in the original death penalty ruling.
CRIME
Five fraud victims return
Five of the seven Taiwanese nationals freed from Myanmar fraud rings cleared checks by Thai authorities and landed in Taiwan yesterday morning, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. Upon arrival, police interviewed the five and took statements. They are to be sent to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning to confirm whether they willingly went to Myanmar knowing they would be working for a fraud ring, or were victims of human trafficking, the bureau said. The remaining two are still under investigation and would not be able to leave until all legal proceedings are complete, unnamed sources familiar with the matter said. According to an English-language statement by Thailand’s military on Wednesday last week, 260 foreigners from 20 countries were released by a Burmese rebel group — the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army — and taken to Thailand that day.
CRIME
Taiwan aids Thai drug bust
After police in Taiwan shared information on a drug shipment bound for Taiwan, Thai police raided a drug warehouse in Thailand, seizing 426kg of drugs with an estimated street value of NT$730 million (US$22.3 million), Taiwanese prosecutors said yesterday. According to a statement from the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office, Thai authorities raided a warehouse in Samut Prakan Province on Jan. 9, arresting five Burmese nationals who were packing the drugs at the scene. The seized drugs included 201kg of methamphetamine disguised as Tieguanyin tea and 225kg of high-concentration cannabis paste, the office said. The drugs were sourced from a mountainous border area between Thailand and Myanmar, the office said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS