Yunlin police crack human trafficking ring
Central News Agency
2014-04-16 11:01 PM
Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Police in the central county of Yunlin arrested a former village chief and four others Tuesday in a crackdown on a human trafficking operation that they said brought Chinese women to Taiwan to work as prostitutes under the pretense of marriage.
Yunlin police said Wednesday that they had arrested the former village chief in Cihtong Township, Yunlin County, his four aides and the 14 trafficking victims and 14 men posing as their husbands.
The operation allegedly paired unmarried Taiwanese men from the counties of Yunlin, Changhua, Nantou and Chiayi and the city of Taichung to fake the marriages.
The women were then forced to work in hostess clubs and as prostitutes, police said.
The men agreed to take part in the scam because they owed money to the ring, police said.
Police also accused the victims of being complicit in the operation.
They said that the women brought family members to Taiwan once they obtained local citizenship and allegedly took advantage of the education and welfare programs extended to all citizens.
The ring faces charges of document forgery and violating the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
(By Yeh Tzu-kang and Scully Hsiao)
