TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Authorities broke up a ring that supplied Taiwanese passports to an overseas human trafficking network catering primarily to Chinese nationals, with four Taiwanese citizens sentenced to prison terms by the Yilan District Court, per Liberty Times.
The court sentenced the four to prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and four months for purchasing Taiwanese passports and reselling them. Prosecutors said the operation sought to exploit the visa-free access Taiwanese passports provide to about 110 countries.
Investigators found that at least 14 passports were illegally acquired and sent abroad, including to Greece and Indonesia. The documents were then used by clients, mainly Chinese nationals, to travel internationally and, in some cases, enter Taiwan under false identities.
The presiding judge warned that criminal groups are increasingly buying passports and sending them overseas, enabling non-citizens to impersonate Taiwanese nationals when entering or leaving Taiwan and other countries. Such actions disrupt public order, damage the credibility of Taiwan’s passports and border security, and may facilitate illegal activities, the judge said.
The case began after the Yilan District Prosecutors' Office received intelligence in March 2024 that a passport acquisition ring had been established by Cheng Tzu-chuan (鄭子娟), a Chinese spouse who obtained Taiwanese citizenship through marriage. Prosecutors said Cheng later divorced and remarried her former Chinese husband, Ho Tsai-lung (何財龍).
Police said the couple worked with a human trafficking gang based in China’s Fujian Province. In August 2023, they recruited Taiwanese accomplices Lai Po-chiang (賴柏強), Shen Dong-chih (沈東池), and Lin Yu-cheng (林禹丞) to participate in the scheme.
Following a series of raids, four suspects were arrested, indicted, and transferred to the Yilan District Court for sentencing. Investigators found that after obtaining Taiwanese passports, the group selected suitable candidates for impersonation and resold the documents at high prices.
According to the investigation, Taiwanese passports were sold to Ho for about NT$17,000 (US$539). The smuggling ring then resold them to Chinese people for more than NT$300,000 each.
Some of the illegal passports have been seized by European authorities, while others are still believed to be in circulation overseas. Further investigation into their whereabouts is ongoing.
The court found Cheng and Lai guilty of participating in a criminal organization, jointly buying and selling passports, and using passports to settle debts. Cheng was sentenced to two years in prison, while Lai received a sentence of two years and two months.
Shen and Lin were convicted of jointly buying and selling passports and sentenced to one year and four months and one year and two months, respectively. Lin was granted a three-year suspended sentence after confessing to the crime and was ordered to pay NT$200,000.
Ho, a Chinese national, continues to be at large and will face trial separately, the court said.
