TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan High Court upheld a six-month prison term for a captain who smuggled a fugitive criminal from China to Penghu, reports said Saturday.
The fugitive, named Lin (林), paid NT$550,000 (US$17,000) to three men to help him re-enter Taiwan via Penghu, per UDN. After fleeing to China earlier, he contacted one of the men in July 2023 to arrange the journey.
He first took off from China in a Chinese ship before transferring to a Taiwanese fishing trawler captained by a man named Yu (俞) on July 30 the same year. The following day, late at night, he left the ship at Magong Port unnoticed.
A man named Wang (王) allowed Lin to stay at a room he had booked at a holiday resort for one night, before another suspect, Hsu (許), moved him to a hotel room. Wang allowed Lin to use his ID to buy a ferry ticket to Budai in Chiayi County, but Lin abandoned the plan when he suspected he would not be allowed to board the ship.
Lin paid Yu NT$200,000, and Hsu and Wang NT$120,000 each, prosecutors said. At the end of their trial, Penghu District Court sentenced Yu to six months in prison and Hsu and Wang to one year, UDN reported.
Penghu District prosecutors said the sentences were too lenient and filed appeals requesting prison terms of at least three years and six months. However, the Taiwan High Court in Kaohsiung ruled the penalties had been appropriate and rejected the prosecutors’ requests. New appeals are still possible, CNA reported.
