The Shilin District Court ordered the detention Wednesday of 27 suspected members of a northern Taiwan extortion ring in connection with the deaths of three people and alleged kidnapping of more than 60 others.
The 27 held were among 29 suspects – including the ring’s alleged ringleaders, Fu Yu-lin (???) and Chen Hua-wei (???) – indicted Tuesday by the Shilin District Prosecutors Office for offenses against personal liberty that resulted in death.
Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Fu and Chen, and jail terms of 20 to 30 years for the others.
Fu, a 30-year-old woman from Qidu District in Keelung City, was arrested on Nov. 10, while the male suspect Chen, 35, was apprehended on Nov. 5.
Shilin prosecutors on Wednesday referred the case to the district court for trial, and the court’s three judges ruled in favor of detaining the 27 suspects following questioning.
Prosecutors charge that the 29 suspects lured victims to buildings rented by the ring since September in Taoyuan’s Zhongli and New Taipei’s Tamsui districts on the pretense of holding interviews for high-paying jobs.
The victims were then held against their will in the two locations for periods ranging from less than a week to more than a month by the suspects, who tortured the kidnapped individuals in order to get their bank passbooks, account passwords, and IDs, according to prosecutors.
Police found that the suspects beat the 35 people held in Taoyuan and 26 in Tamsui with stun guns, batons, and fists.
Authorities also allege that the suspects drugged those held against their will.
According to law enforcement authorities, the suspects likely used the stolen bank accounts to commit fraud and launder money.
The criminal ring’s operations resulted in three deaths, according to the authorities, who said they uncovered two bodies hidden in Taoyuan’s Guishan District and one in Nantou County.
According to police, the body in Nantou had been taken there after the person fell to his death from the 11th floor of an apartment building occupied by the suspects in Zhongli.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel