Taiwanese man surnamed Liu and others were accused of colluding with Wei, a mainland Chinese, in leading a human trafficking ring. They utilized Taiwanese passports to enjoy visa-free entry to multiple countries and illegally acquired and forged Taiwanese passports for use by Chinese nationals overseas. On the 8th, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted Liu and 7 others for violating passport laws, while issuing arrest warrants for Wei and 5 foreign nationals.
The prosecution stated that Prosecutor Xiao Yongchang directed joint investigations by the National Immigration Agency’s Border Affairs Brigade, the Criminal Police Brigade of the Aviation Police Bureau, and the Criminal Police Brigade of the Kaohsiung City Police Department into an illegal passport trading scheme. It was discovered that Chinese national Wei, along with a woman surnamed Wei and a foreign-born Chinese holding Irish and Singaporean passports, formed a human trafficking group. They promoted the sale of Taiwanese passports on Facebook to individuals interested in trading them, then established private communication channels through apps like LINE to finalize transactions.
To avoid detection by overseas customs officials due to discrepancies between the buyers’ appearances and the sellers’ photos on passports, Wei and his accomplices requested electronic headshots from sellers. They then selected buyers with similar facial features before using computer software to merge the sellers’ and buyers’ photos, creating a composite image that resembled both parties to deceive overseas customs.
Wei would send the synthesized photos to the sellers through communication apps, and upon receipt of printed photos, the sellers would apply for passports at the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each male passport was sold to Wei for $6,000, and each female passport for $7,000, before being handed over to members of the mainland Chinese trafficking group for delivery to buyers.
The investigation revealed that Wei initially purchased the passports of Liu and his girlfriend through this method. Seeing the lucrative opportunity, Liu joined the criminal group, serving as Wei’s agent in Taiwan. He actively sought out sellers for Wei, acted as the liaison, instructed and assisted other sellers in passport application procedures, and collected passports from sellers on behalf of Wei. It was found that the criminal group had obtained 11 Taiwanese passports through this scheme.
When foreign customs officials discovered Wei using Liu’s passport overseas, he was deported, and the Taiwan authorities were informed. Additionally, Wei, a mainland Chinese woman surnamed Wei, was arrested when trying to enter Taiwan with a falsely obtained passport, as her travel records raised suspicion, leading to the exposure of the entire operation.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office determined that Liu collaborated with Wei for illicit gain, becoming an accomplice of the criminal group. They mediated the forging of headshots for passport applications and resale, allowing unidentified foreigners to falsely assume Taiwanese nationality for travel, severely damaging Taiwan’s passport credibility internationally. This jeopardized the visa-free privileges secured by Taiwan’s painstakingly built international image, facing a risk of cancellation by other countries as a result.
Furthermore, Liu disposed of his phone used to communicate with Wei by throwing it into the sea to destroy evidence, impeding investigators from tracing their activities and showing no remorse for his actions. Therefore, today, Liu, along with his girlfriend and 5 others, were charged under the Organized Crime Prevention Act and passport law violations. The prosecutors requested a severe sentence from the court and issued arrest warrants for Wei and the 5 foreign nationals.