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CIB task force busts up loan shark ring, arrests 18 suspectsThe China Post news staff TAIPEI, Taiwan -- An ad hoc task force headed by the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB, 刑事警察局) on Wednesday busted a loan shark ring and detained 18 suspects who allegedly used violence to retrieve debts.
January 26, 2013, 12:02 am TWN The CIB's 7th Investigation Brigade joined forces with police units in Keelung, Taipei and New Taipei, as well as with the Taipei military police division, and raided 29 residences of the ring members, according to a CIB statement. They arrested the alleged ring leader, surnamed Zhai, and some key accomplices surnamed Weng, Yen, Chou and Huang, as well as other ring members, and seized evidence including baseball bats, account books, lists of victims' names and counterfeit detector machines, and NT$1 million in cash. The suspects were all handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office for offenses against personal liberty, seeking unreasonably high interest payments, and for other charges relating to organized crime, according to CIB. The loan shark ring allegedly operated more than 10 car loan centers and pawnshops in Taipei and New Taipei, extending high-interest loans with interest rates of 15 percent per month to taxi drivers. Ring members allegedly used various violent means to demand repayment of overdue loans, including beating debtors with baseball bats.
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