Kaohsiung and Pingtung police collaborated to uncover billions of NTD in laundered money before the Lunar New Year. The task force uncovered multiple money laundering schemes including one that exceeded NT$20 billion (US$718,600,000) and made profits surpassing NT$100 million.
The announcement was made at a Pingtung Country Police Department press conference. The authorities efforts resulted in numerous arrests. 21 were arrested for money laundering, 25 for giving illegal high-interest loans, and 118 were arrested for illegal gambling. Among these arrests was the International Money Laundering Waterhouse Group (跨國洗錢水房集團).
According to the authorities this group rented multiple residential and commercial buildings and worked in 24-hour shifts to avoid detection. They used various electronic devices to transfer illicit funds around the world. As mentioned above the group made over NT$100 million in profits and were working with more than NT$20 billion in illegal funds.
After creating several task forces, the police were able to seize properties owned by the groups and arrested 21 suspects in total. All of these individuals were handed over to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor’s Office for further investigation.