TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The National Immigration Agency, in cooperation with the Seventh Special Police Corps, busted a ring of illegal loggers operating in Nantou County on Friday (Aug. 26) morning.

The operation in the mountains around Renai Township resulted in the arrest of seven people and the seizure of 168 kilograms of Taiwanese red cypress, according to Tsai Wen-Chung (蔡文正), deputy commander of the National Police Criminal Investigation Division.

The arrests were made on a mountain road when officers stopped three vehicles hauling the illegally felled red cypress. The logging ring included Taiwanese citizens and Vietnamese migrants, and was led by a 42-year-old Vietnamese woman surnamed Chen (陳), a resident of Taiwan for 22 years.

According to the CNA report, following her divorce, Chen began illegally felling trees around Renai Township to make a living. Eventually, she began cooperating with a Taiwanese associate and recruited runaway migrant workers.

While monitoring police activity in the mountainous area, the workers would be dispatched to camp in the mountains. There, they would fell trees and prepare them for sale. Chinese language reports refer to the logging ring as the Mountain Mouse Group (組山老鼠集團).

Police in the area reportedly received tips about the illegal operation in August last year. After a year of investigation and monitoring Chen’s activity, police made the decision to carry out the raid and make arrests.

Illegally harvested Taiwanese red cypress. (Taiwan National Police Agency photo)