Taiwan’s China Airlines to be investigated over cigarette smuggling scam on presidential flights
- Airline found to have sold huge amounts of cigarettes to bodyguards accompanying island’s president on state visits overseas
- Tsai Ing-wen says she finds situation ‘unacceptable’, orders all units to cooperate with judicial inquiry
A smuggling scandal implicating Taiwan’s presidential bodyguards has engulfed China Airlines after the island’s largest carrier revealed huge quantities of duty-free cigarettes were routinely sold to staff accompanying the island’s leader on visits overseas.
The scam, which was unveiled earlier this week, appears to date back years, covering both President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration and her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.
Taiwan’s intelligence chief resigned this week after it emerged that an agent who was accompanying Tsai on a state visit overseas was caught attempting to smuggle nearly 10,000 cartons of cigarettes on Monday.
The scandal comes as Tsai seeks a second term in a January presidential election against Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party.
“The improper conduct of National Security Bureau agents’ mass purchase of duty-free cigarettes reveals a long-term bad practice,” Tsai wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday as new details emerged of the racket.