Traffickers caught smuggling 24 Vietnamese nationals into Taiwan

Taipei, Aug. 26 (CNA) The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said Tuesday it had intercepted a Taiwanese-owned ship attempting to smuggle 24 Vietnamese nationals into Taiwan illegally.

The Yilan District Prosecutors Office concluded its investigation into the case on Aug. 22 and indicted four main suspects on charges of violating the Human Trafficking Prevention Act and the Immigration Act, said Chen Chien-chih (陳建志), deputy head of CGA's Yilan Investigation Corps.

In a statement released Tuesday, the CGA said the corps began monitoring the case in October 2024 after receiving intelligence about a human smuggling ring.

Led by Yilan prosecutors, the corps worked with other CGA units and the National Immigration Agency to form a joint investigation team, according to the statement.

Using radar systems and other surveillance tools, the team found that the Taiwanese-flagged Jin Cai Man No. 8 fishing boat was showing unusual movements. It then started following its crew members and uncovered a human trafficking scheme aimed at smuggling Vietnamese nationals into the country in exchange for profit.

After several days of surveillance, on April 25 at around 5 p.m., the CGA dispatched its Anping-class offshore patrol vessel and PP-10087 patrol vessel to intercept the fishing boat at 9.3 nautical miles (17.2 kilometers) from the baseline of Taiwan's territorial waters, the statement said.

According to prosecutors, the human trafficking operation was led by two brothers surnamed Lee (李), who collected NT$250,000 (US$8,190.8) from each of the 24 Vietnamese nationals to get them onboard.

Before they could go ashore, however, they were threatened with being thrown into the sea if they did not pay an additional NT$150,000, prosecutors said, adding that the Vietnamese nationals agreed to pay the smugglers NT$9.6 million in total.

The Lee brothers, the captain, surnamed Lo (羅), and another man surnamed Ruan (阮), who approached the Vietnamese, were indicted on charges of violating the Human Trafficking Prevention Act and the Immigration Act, according to prosecutors.

Meanwhile, 21 of the Vietnamese were in detention for contravening the Immigration Act, while the other three have been deported, according to the Chinese-language Liberty Times.