Interior Minister Chen Wei-zen says there are 99 Taiwanese nationals who have been detained or imprisoned overseas on fraud charges. He gave the number on Monday in response to a legislator’s question at a legislative committee meeting.
Chen gave a breakdown of where the 99 Taiwanese fraud suspects are being held.
“There are 14 in the Philippines, 40 in Egypt, 34 in Thailand, five in Kenya, six in South Korea. There are a total of 99," said Chen.
A total of 52 Taiwanese fraud suspects were arrested in Malaysia last month. Of those, 20 were sent back to Taiwan and were released after interrogation by the police. Minister Chen says the police spent three hours talking with each suspect. Most of them admitted fraud-related crimes. But he says the police could do nothing but release them due to a lack of evidence.
Chen says that the police forces in Taiwan and China are in agreement that the two sides should work together to combat crime. He says he hopes the two sides can work together to consolidate evidence, expand the investigation, and bring the criminals to justice