Police to target repression proxies: CIB

LONG-ARM THIS: Law enforcement agencies are doing interagency planning to target China’s cat’s-paws in Taiwan, in order to visit extreme legal displeasure upon them

• By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNA

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Police would target organized crime groups, private investigative agencies and other Taiwanese complicit in China’s transnational repression targeting the nation, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday.

In a news release, the bureau said that Taiwan would not tolerate any criminal, private investigator or any other proxy who takes part in Beijing-directed surveillance, coercion or violence against Taiwanese or foreigners on Taiwanese soil.

Illegal surveillance of a lawmaker, assault and other acts of intimidation, such as flinging red paint, are recent examples of local accomplices working at China’s direction to attack Taiwanese and foreigners, it said.

The entrance to the Criminal Investigation Bureau in Taipei is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Taipei Times

Police are conducting a systematic inquiry into crime groups and private investigative agencies implicated in transnational repression, focusing on cash flows, organizers behind the schemes and those liaising with Beijing, the bureau said.

The National Police Agency last month held a meeting on privacy and national security laws with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Mainland Affairs Council and representatives of the private investigation industry, it said.

Police impressed on the industry’s representatives that they must comply with the laws governing surveillance and exercise judgement in avoiding high-risk clients, the bureau said.

Committing or conspiring to commit assault or intimidation for payment from a third party is an offense against the Criminal Code and the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), it said.

The maximum penalty for the crime is 10 years in prison and a NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) fine, which could be amplified under the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), the bureau said.

People who suspect they are being surveilled or who are subjected to violence or intimidation are urged to preserve evidence and immediately report the incidents to police, while putting their personal safety first, it said.

The bureau is expanding its intelligence gathering and multi-agency cooperation to combat the threat of transnational repression, it said.

Police recently closed an investigation into two people who in May allegedly vandalized a comedy club with feces and paint on China’s behalf, the bureau said.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month indicted the suspects on coercion and vandalism charges, with a recommendation that the court should impose heavy sentences, it said.