A 29-year-old Vietnamese man, who had already been repatriated from Taiwan once for overstaying, was re-arrested only three days after illegally re-entering the country.
The man surnamed Tran, who was observed driving suspiciously in a minivan in Kaohsiung City, was intercepted by patrol police officers manning a police checkpoint, the Taiwan Times reported.
The man pulled over before reaching the checkpoint and was seen running away. Officers immediately made pursuit of the suspect and arrested him on a nearby farm.
Police records showed that Tran, who had been repatriated last year after being arrested for overstaying, had no official record of his re-entry into Taiwan, meaning that he had re-entered the island country illegally.
Under questioning, Tran confessed that he had paid human traffickers US$7,000 to bring him back to Taiwan because he missed his girlfriend and wanted to make a better living than he could manage in Vietnam. He told police he had arrived back in Kaohsiung only three days before.
The authorities said the man could expect to be repatriated again.