Five individuals face up to 20 years of prison time in connection with the disappearance of 152 supposed tourists to Taiwan
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/07
By: Jules Quartly, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer
Vietnamese workers. (VnExpress photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Five Vietnamese have been detained by the country’s Ministry of Public Security in a case linked to the trafficking of 152 tourists in Taiwan late last year, it was announced on Monday (May 6).
Criminal investigations have been launched against the four men and one woman. They are being held on the charge of “organizing and/or coercing other persons to flee abroad,” reported VnExpress. They face up to 20 years in prison for the crime.
In January, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA) arrested seven people behind the people-smuggling operation that saw 152 Vietnamese on tourism visas disappear soon after landing in Taiwan, in December last year.
At least 56 of the individuals were still at large by mid-February. Later the same month 22 Vietnamese were arrested at a slaughterhouse in Taipei’s Wanhua District for working illegally. [FULL STORY]
