Law enforcement authorities arrested on Tuesday a leading member of a criminal organization allegedly responsible for holding and torturing at least 61 people, of whom three died, in Taoyuan and New Taipei in an alleged money laundering operation.
The suspect, surnamed Tu (涂), 30, and his girlfriend, surnamed Liao (廖), who is also suspected of being a member of the ring, were found at a bed-and-breakfast in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township and taken in for questioning by the New Taipei City Police Department.
The torture ring allegedly lured victims to their hideouts in apartment buildings on the pretense of holding interviews for high-paying jobs and then held them for between less than a week to more than a month and tortured them to get their bank passbooks, account passwords, and IDs, police said.
According to police, the accounts seized by the suspects were likely used as vehicles for laundering money and to set up other fraud schemes.
Police rescued 26 captives in Tamsui in New Taipei and 32 captives from the Zhongli location in Taoyuan.
In addition, they tracked down two bodies hidden in Taoyuan’s Guishan District and another one in Nantou County that had been taken there after the person died in Taoyuan, they said.
Tu was at the same level in the ring as Chen Hua-wei (陳樺韋), another key suspect who was arrested Saturday and turned over to prosecutors on charges of homicide, involvement in organized crime, money laundering, fraud, assault and unlawful imprisonment, police said.
Meanwhile, police said on Tuesday they subpoenaed several more suspects, who are to be handed over to prosecutors after their statements are taken.
So far, the police have arrested 28 people from the Tamsui and Zhongli operations, of whom 19 were detained after being denied bail, two are to stand trial in a juvenile court, one had posted bail, one was released without bail, and five were still being questioned as of Tuesday afternoon.
Police were still trying to track down the mastermind behind the torture rings, they said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel