Acting on a tip-off, the Coast Guard Administration yesterday seized 173 guns and over 8,000 rounds of ammunition from a boat off the coast near Tamsui and arrested four suspects for smuggling the arsenal from the Philippines.
"This is by far the largest arms-smuggling case we have ever busted in Taiwan," said Wang Hsun (王郡), director of the coast guard, at a press conference yesterday. "The whole arsenal has a market value of approximately NT$70 million."
Among the smuggled arms were 164 pistols of various kinds and nine guns, including MP5 submachine guns and M16s, as well as seven grenades, a batch of dynamite, a satellite phone, more than 8,000 bullets and 300 cartridges.
"Some of these arms such as the MP5 and the M16 are quite rare but powerful," said Wu Hung-chieh (
"Judging from their power, there is no doubt that these arms would post a major threat to Taiwan's public security if the smugglers had been successful in their operation," said Premier Yu Shyi-kun at the presentation of the haul.
The buyers of these heavy arms are not yet known, "though we strongly believe that these weapons were smuggled by Taiwan's major crime syndicates," Wang said.
According to the coast guard, they have been following leads regarding this smuggling for the past 10 months.
"After we busted an illegal arms deal last June, follow-up investigations and a tip-off have led us to believe that one huge trans-national arms-smuggling ring is responsible for smuggling illegal arms to Taiwan from the Philippines," Wang said.
"Together with the Panchiao Prosecutors' Office, tip-offs from abroad and several divisions under the coast guard, we have been following these leads since then, which eventually led us to [yesterday's] bust," he said.
According to the coast guard, the four suspects boarded the Keelung-registered fishing vessel Yinsheng 8 and set out for Philippines on March 20.
On their return trip, they allegedly met up with a smuggling ring on the open seas on Monday to take the arms on board.
"As soon as we spotted the Yinsheng 8 approximately [25km] off Tamsui, the coast guard set out to intercept," Wang said.
"We found the weapons inside travel bags hidden on various decks on the fishing boat."
He added that more information would be available as the police continued their questioning of the suspects to find out details like the main sellers and buyers involved.
"According to the suspects' preliminary account, they were being paid NT$2.5 million" for smuggling the weapons into the country, said Chen Yu-chen (陳玉珍), a prosecutor at the Panchiao Prosecutors' Office.
"They [the suspects] told us that all they were told was to deliver these arms at the Keelung Harbor and that they have no idea on the real identity of the arms dealers since they all used nicknames," Chen said.
Chen added that the four suspects, all of Taiwanese nationality, would be charged with smuggling and illegal possession of arms.
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