BASEBALL/Suspects investigated for scalping Asian Baseball Championship tickets

Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) More than 60 people are being investigated on suspicion of scalping tickets for the Asian Baseball Championship that opens Sunday in Taipei, according to the Taipei City Police Department on Friday.

A total of 67 individuals were arrested by Taipei police from Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 on suspicion of violating the Social Order Maintenance Act for reselling tickets for profit, the department's Criminal Investigation Division said in a statement.

The tickets were found to be resold at prices ranging between NT$1,000 (US$31.82) and NT$4,700 each, mostly through social media, police said.

About 90 percent of the 170 scalped tickets, which have been seized by police, were for the opener on Dec. 3 between Taiwan and South Korea being held at the Taipei Dome, it said.

The investigation division said a Taoyuan resident was also recently caught for advertising tickets to the Asian Baseball Championship as well as various musical concerts on Facebook.

A raid carried out by the Criminal Investigation Bureau's 3rd Investigation Corps on Nov. 24 found that the scalper had six tickets to the baseball event and 103 others for various musical concerts.

The individual is being investigated for suspected contravention of the social order law and the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries Act, the division said.

According to Article 64-2 of the Social Order Maintenance Act, those who "[purchase] transportation or entertainment tickets with no intention to use and resell them for profit" shall be detained for up to three days or fined no more than NT$18,000.

The police urged the public to report ticket scalpers and to refrain from buying tickets from unauthorized resellers.

The Taipei Dome, a new indoor stadium that will host its first major international event, will be the site of the tournament's opener between Taiwan and South Korea.

But of the stadium's roughly 40,000 seats, only about 17,000 are going on sale, resulting in many people who wanted tickets to the opener getting left behind.

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