Working with Canadian and Australian officials, Taiwanese authorities say they have dismantled “the largest human smuggling operation between Asia, Australia and North America.”
The ring managed to smuggle more than 100 illegal migrants from China to Canada and Australia on at least 50 occasions, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency said in a communiqué released on Wednesday.
Each of those 50 successful smuggling trips involved one to four migrants from the People’s Republic of China, who flew to Australia or Canada from Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport using doctored Taiwanese passports, the NIA said.
Since November, 2010, holders of Taiwanese passports no longer need a visa to visit Canada. One factor Immigration Canada cited in 2010 for waiving the visa requirement was the “very low number of asylum claims from Taiwan nationals.”
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