Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The Tainan City Police Department on Saturday said three Malaysian nationals visiting Taiwan were arrested this week on charges of working as money mules for a fraud ring.
Lin Yun-hao (林雲豪), head of the department's fourth precinct, said his team received a tip off on Friday about a suspicious person withdrawing large sums of money from an ATM at a local convenience store in Tainan.
The suspect, aged 25, who was brought in for questioning by the police that day, later confessed that he had been hired through a contact in Malaysia to work as a money mule in Taiwan.
Known only by his surname Yen (顏), the police said the suspect is a tour bus driver in Malaysia and wanted to make extra money on the side to supplement his unstable income.
He arrived in Taiwan on June 25, and had withdrawn NT$105,800 (US$3,495) from a local ATM before his arrest on Friday, the police said.
According to the Tainan police, officers also arrested a Malaysian man and a woman at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Thursday.
Local officers had been tracking the two suspects for several days before making the arrest.
The couple, a 34-year-old man Kwan Poon Toor and 41-year-old woman Choong Siew Lean, are believed to have withdrawn millions of New Taiwan dollars during their stay in Tainan after arriving in Taiwan on June 4.
Police later found the two cases were linked to the same fraud ring, and have since been handed them over to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office for further investigation.
(By Chang Jung-hsiang and Ko Lin)
Enditem/AW