Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-19
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Australia detained two Taiwanese suspects of a
In this April 13, 2016, file photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese and Taiwanese suspects involved in wire fraud, center, sit in a plane as they arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China. Taiwan on Friday was trying to prevent Malaysia from deporting 52 Taiwanese criminal suspects to China amid an ongoing battle over jurisdiction involving the self-ruled island. (Yin Gang/Xinhua News Agency via AP, File)
telecom fraud ring while Vietnam arrested six Taiwanese nationals in a completely separate investigation, reports said Tuesday.
Previous groups detained in Kenya and Malaysia faced deportation to China, causing a major crisis in cross-straits relations. Taiwan succeeded in persuading Malaysia to send the alleged scammers home, where they were immediately freed on arrival. A delegation headed by the Ministry of Justice is leaving for China on Wednesday to discuss those who were sent to Beijing from Kenya.
The Australian police in Brisbane reportedly uncovered a Taiwanese-led fraud ring last August. Two Taiwanese citizens were accused of keeping up to 19 fellow countrymen in servitude and forcing them to conduct telecom scams against people in China, reports said. After their working visas were suspended, they were allowed to return home last August, but the two ring leaders were still being held, reports said.
In the other case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Vietnamese authorities detained six Taiwanese and several Vietnamese citizens who defrauded about a dozen people of a total of about NT$8.25 million (US$250,000). The victims were all Vietnamese, reports said, meaning the alleged perpetrators are unlikely to face deportation to China. [FULL STORY]
