A convicted spy for China who cut off his electronic ankle monitor has been on the run in Taiwan for ten days, and prosecutors now say an organized network helped him disappear — a bad look for Taiwan's justice system and for the lawmaker whose office he worked for.

• Chang Chun-chieh, the money man for independent legislator Kao Chin Su-mei, met the lawmaker's aide on September 6, handed over a USB drive, then destroyed his ankle monitor in a public toilet with another man and fled.
• The escape was a relay: a series of drivers passed him south, each one handing him to the next, with a luxury business car borrowed to move him toward someone arranged to get him out of the country.
• That exit failed because police, prosecutors and the coast guard sealed off the route, so the group stashed him in a five-star hotel and changed the plan.
• Seven suspects are in custody with clear assigned roles, including a regional gang figure; two of the deepest-involved have been jailed pending trial, while the lawmaker's aide was released on bail.
• Prosecutors have cancelled Chang's passport and issued wanted notices for him and his accomplice, saying the tight coordination points to a hidden hand behind the whole operation.

Outlook: Investigators are closing in on the second fugitive's route, and the search for whoever funded and organized the escape is likely to reach beyond the seven already detained.