A 26-year-old woman who was arrested last year on suspicion of luring Taiwanese to Cambodia and forcing them to participate in scams and sex work was indicted in January on human trafficking charges, Taichung police said Thursday.
At a press conference, the Taichung City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps said that following an investigation, it arrested the suspect, surnamed Wu (?), last September at Taoyuan International Airport as she returned from Cambodia.
At the time, a request by prosecutors to detain Wu for four months was approved by the Taichung District Court, it said.
Taichung police alleged that Wu collaborated with Cambodian criminal organizations in the operation of several fraud and prostitution rings.
In one of the schemes, they said, Wu posted ads on Facebook and Instagram offering women in Taiwan high salaries to work in Cambodian hostess clubs.
Once the women arrived in Cambodia, however, their passports were taken on the pretext of applying for a visa, and they were asked to sign exploitative employment contracts, according to the department.
While the victims were initially put to work in hostess clubs, if any of them expressed a desire to quit, they would be “sold” to area hotels and forced into sex work, the police department said, based on statements taken from victims after they returned to Taiwan.
In another of Wu’s alleged rackets, the department said, she lured Taiwanese nationals to Cambodia by promoting phony “paid travel” schemes.
Upon arriving in the country, the victims’ passports and phones were confiscated by members of the criminal ring, and they were forced to work in call centers perpetrating investment scams, according to police.
At the press conference, police said they had also obtained cell phone video in which Wu and others, during an internal dispute with another member of the criminal ring, forced him to wear women’s underwear before beating him up.
According to the department, Wu was indicted in January on suspected violations of the Human Trafficking Prevention Act and offenses against freedom under the Criminal Code.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel