China Airlines chairman apologizes over cigarette smuggling scandal

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/25
By: Wang Shu-fen, Lin Chang-shun, Wang Yang-yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL) Chairman Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) apologized to the public on Thursday over a recent case of attempted cigarette smuggling allegedly by government security agents, one of whom had traveled on a presidential flight operated by CAL.

At a press event, Hsieh said that for the past 20 years, CAL has been providing dedicated charter flights for overseas travel by the president of Taiwan and has been facilitating the purchase of duty-free products, including cigarettes, by passengers on those flights.

In an effort to provide high quality service, CAL has been allowing passengers on presidential charter flights to pre-order tax-free products, without limiting them to one carton of cigarettes per person, he said.

As a result, a total of 10,009 cartons of cigarettes were sold to passengers traveling with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her recent visit to the United States and the Caribbean, Hsieh said.
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