Crime fighting cooperation continues

Taiwan and China are fighting crossborder smuggling of drugs and have cooperated to bust about 100 cases of drug smuggling, a report said

Taiwanese judicial authorities continue to cooperate with China in combating crime and repatriation of convicted offenders, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a report.

China has repatriated 511 wanted Taiwanese fugitives since the Cross-Strait Joint CrimeFighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議) took effect in 2009, the report added.

Both countries have listed fighting cross-border smuggling of narcotic drugs, telecom fraud, cyberscam operations, endangerment of food and pharmaceutical safety, and human smuggling rings as their priorities, the report said.

The MAC said that Taiwan and China have cooperated to bust about 100 cases of narcotic drug smuggling since 2009, confiscating a total of 550.31kg of heroin, 2,438.8kg of amphetamine, 2,650.8kg of ephedrine for making illegal stimulants, 3,853kg of ketamine, 1,040kg of methcathinone, while the Coast Guard Administration reported seizing 10,128kg of narcotics and illegal drugs.

From 2019 to January this year, 24 offenders were repatriated from China, while Taiwan assisted in the return of a Chinese national surnamed Wang (王) in January, who is wanted as the primary suspect in a murder, the report said.

Taiwanese authorities have successfully clamped down on cross-border telecom fraud and cyberscam operations in Taiwan, China and Southeast Asia, by coordinating with agencies across government ministries, the report said, adding that they raided the largest money transfer and laundering center of these criminal rings in Taiwan in November 2016, whose offices were located in New Taipei City, as well as “underground banking” sites for cross-border scam rings in Hsinchu, Yilan and Nantou counties.

“As of January this year, Taiwanese and Chinese judiciary authorities have made official requests, sent and received official notifications, presented results of investigations and gathering evidence, and repatriated wanted criminals, accumulating a total of 140,000 pages of documentation,” the MAC said.

The Cross-Strait Joint CrimeFighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement has been helpful in legal protection of personal rights during prosecution processes, and guarantees the right to property and assets of citizens in Taiwan and China, it added.