A routine traffic stop in Taichung turned into a foot chase and ended with the arrest of a Vietnamese migrant worker who had been missing for a year — a small but telling sign of Taiwan's growing problem with workers who vanish from their jobs.

• Police on patrol spotted a scooter that had already been deregistered as scrapped still being ridden on a main road in Taichung's Xitun District.
• The rider panicked when officers signalled him to stop, abandoned the scooter at the roadside and ran.
• Officers chased him down and found he had overstayed his residence permit and had been out of contact for a year.
• He has been handed to the immigration authorities for detention and further processing.

Outlook: Police say they will keep up patrols and traffic enforcement, which tends to turn up more overstaying workers the same way.