63 Indicted in Taichung Dadu Illegal Dumping Case

(Central News Agency, Zhao Liyan, Taichung, 8th) The Taichung District Prosecutors Office indicted 63 people, including land developers, today (8th) for violating the Waste Disposal Act and other charges. The case involves Hong and Zheng, who accepted construction waste and residual mixtures from building sites. Their truck convoys would circle a licensed soil treatment plant to obtain fake manifests, then dump the waste on a hillside in the Dadu District, creating a facade of legal disposal.

According to a press release from the Taichung District Prosecutors Office, a large-scale illegal dumping of construction waste, residual mixtures, and sludge occurred on a hillside in the Dadu District. After reviewing evidence, prosecutors determined this was not an isolated incident but a meticulously organized operation involving a large waste brokerage group, transport convoys, construction sites, and soil treatment plant operators.

A special task force was formed, employing a strategy of "tracing sources through vehicle flow and tracking soil treatment plants through manifests." The investigation revealed that Hong and land developer Zheng, seeking to reduce land development, leveling, and backfill costs, conspired with 16 waste brokers, soil intermediaries, convoy leaders, and multiple drivers. They accepted industrial waste, including construction waste, residual mixtures, and sludge, from construction sites and detention pond projects in Taichung and Changhua.

The transport convoys would circle the soil treatment plant without actually dumping the soil, obtaining formal manifests. They then transported the waste to the Dadu site for dumping or directly to the hillside for stockpiling without going through legal treatment facilities. The total volume of illegally cleared, treated, and stockpiled industrial waste exceeded 10,606 cubic meters.

The unscrupulous operators even forged a "Land Leveling and Backfill Engineering Contract." When the Taichung City Government conducted an on-site inspection, they presented the forged documents, claiming the site was a legal leveling and backfill project to evade investigation and mislead the authorities.

After concluding the investigation, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office indicted the 63 individuals, including waste brokers, construction site operators, soil intermediaries, convoy leaders, and drivers, on charges including violating the Waste Disposal Act, forging private documents, causing public officials to make false entries, and unauthorized occupation and use of private hillsides leading to attempted soil erosion. The prosecution also filed a motion with the court to confiscate the criminal tools and the defendants' illegal gains, ranging from NT$480 to NT$1,625,320. (Editor: Li Hengshan) 1150608