Taiwan detains 18 telecom fraud suspects

Taiwan’s judicial authorities on Thursday detained 18 telecom fraud suspects and issued a travel ban on two more.

The Taichung district court issued the ruling after district prosecutor’s office on Wednesday summoned the 20 suspects, who were released on April 16 due to alleged lack of evidence, Xinhua news agency reported.

Prosecutors have obtained evidence from Malaysia, which is sufficient to impose compulsory measures on the suspects, said the office.

The decision to release the suspects on April 16 was met with criticism from media outlets and the public.

In March, Malaysian and Chinese mainland police cooperated on an investigation into five transnational telecommunication fraud cases involving victims on the mainland, and arrested 119 suspects, including 65 from the mainland, 52 from Taiwan and two from Malaysia.