A former coast guard officer and his accomplice were held incommunicado on Thursday for their suspected role in the recent attempted smuggling of 154 cats into Taiwan, according to Kaohsiung District Court.
The court issued the ruling at the request of Kaohsiung prosecutors investigating the case, who said the former coast guard officer, a 50-year-old man surnamed Chang (?) and his 49-years-old accomplice, surnamed Kuo (?), are believed to be key figures in the case.
The cats, which were seized by the Taiwanese authorities from a fishing boat off the coast of Anping District, Tainan, on Aug. 19, were euthanized two days later out of fears over rabies which is endemic in China.
A variety of breeds such as Russian Blue, Ragdoll, Persian American Shorthair, and British Shorthair, were found in 62 cages on the Shunfa 886 fishing vessel when it was intercepted by Taiwan’s Coast Guard and escorted into Kaohsiung Port, based on a tip off.
Chang and Kuo were detained by Kaohsiung prosecutors at a private residence in Fengshan District on Aug. 24 after being identified as being involved in the smuggling operation by the fishing boat skipper surnamed Lin (?) when questioned by the authorities.
Lin told prosecutors that he was hired by Chang to smuggle the cats for NT$3,000 (US$107) a day, and was asked to meet with a Chinese vessel in international waters off the coast of Huayu in Penghu County, to pick up the cats and bring them to Taiwan proper.
Lin said he kept the cats in a sealed cabin but the ship was intercepted by Taiwan’s Coast Guard off Anping.
Prosecutors found that Chang had hired Lin and other crew members to smuggle the cats into Taiwan, and that Kuo was in charge of dealing with pet shop owners and fixing equipment on the ship to transport the animals.
In a bid to hide what they were doing, Lin and other crew members loaded hundreds of kilograms of fish onto the Shunfa 886 at Jhengbin Fishing Harbor in Keelung, to create the impression they had just returned from a fishing expedition.
Although Chang and Kuo have denied any wrongdoing, prosecutors asked for them to be detained and held incommunicado because of their alleged violation of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease, after they provided conflicting statements.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel