Taiwan police station besieged by bookies demanding cops pay up

Another week, another branch of Taiwan’s security apparatus embarrassing the government by getting caught up in illegal gambling activity.

On Friday, Taiwanese media reported that two police officers in New Taipei City had been indicted on charges of illegal gambling. The two officers, who stand accused of placing sizable wagers on baseball games via illegal bookmakers, have already been demoted and transferred to new assignments.

The officers’ escapades became public knowledge after a group of men surrounded a police station in the Sanchong District of New Taipei City, demanding that the two officers make good on their debts to an underground gambling operator. One of the officers owed NT 760k (US $25,160) while the other owed NT 3m ($99,300).

This is the second embarrassing gambling report to plague Taiwanese authorities in as many weeks. Last Friday, military authorities rumbled an illegal online betting pool that included numerous officers from different branches of the service.