The Coast Guard Administration's Keelung mobile-investigation team yesterday arrested an international drug smuggling ring based in Neihu (
Seven other foreign nationals and three Taiwanese Americans were also arrested in connection with the drug ring.
Many of the suspects worked as English-language teachers, the report said.
PHOTO: YANG PEI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
The ring smuggled drugs into the country inside textbooks and sold them to foreign students and returning Taiwanese students from overseas in pubs and other night spots, as well as over the Internet.
Members of the Coast Guard Administration were able to bust the drug dealers yesterday after three months of surveillance when they spotted a Taiwanese American man, Su Sheng-hsi (
The coast guard team saw their opportunity and arrested Su.
Then they sent Su back upstairs as bait and managed to arrest the alleged "king pin" of the ring, who they identified as Forand Mathieu James, a Canadian teacher.
Other alleged ring members from Canada, Australia and Hong Kong were also arrested.
James had spent two years in Taiwan working as an English teacher, the CNA report said, adding that in addition to selling many kinds of drugs, he had also collected drug-related books.
The coast guards found 600g of cocaine, some marijuana and hundreds of ecstasy pills on site.
The report said both James and Su were being held in custody for violating drug regulations. The others were released after agreeing to serve as witnesses.
The Coast Guard is currently investigating if there are any more people involved.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS