TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two Kaohsiung port workers are suspected of leading a criminal group of 17 members that allegedly stole NT$24 million (NT$780,000) worth of metal imports by tampering with a weighbridge.
Kaohsiung prosecutors were informed of discrepancies between import and export records for a company that imports precious metals from Southeast Asia and Africa, per CNA. The investigation determined that the missing goods were stolen while en route to their final delivery point.
Prosecutors said two men named Peng (彭) and He (何) led a team of 17 members, who bribed employees and installed jamming devices on a weighbridge to produce low counts for incoming metal shipments. The group hid by the weighbridge as metals were being weighed to operate the jamming device, and then followed the truck out of the port.
Once outside, the GPS device on the truck moving the metals was switched into a passenger car, and the route the truck would have taken was followed by that vehicle to avoid suspicion. The truck was then taken to a separate location where the difference between the recorded amounts and the actual amounts was stolen, and the metals were exported again by boat.
Over 100 tons of high-carbon ferrochrome and pig iron were stolen by the group this year, investigators said. The flow of profits from the theft continues to be investigated.