Police yesterday arrested dozens for possession or use of narcotics on the sidelines of the annual Spring Scream music festival in Kenting (墾丁).
“Early [yesterday] morning in a remote hotel in Manchou Township [滿州], 31 individuals were caught using drugs,” Pingtung Police Department director Chen Chia-chin (陳家欽) said. “Because of the large number of offenders, police had to dispatch a bus to take them to a police station,” Chen said.
The substances seized were MDMA, erinim pills and ketamine, he said.
PHOTO: CNA
Chen said that at another small hotel in Hengchun Township (恆春) yesterday morning, 12 individuals from Taipei were also found to be taking erinim, ketamine as well as marijuana.
Chen said the people arrested would be charged with violation of the Narcotics Endangerment Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
The Spring Scream festival was founded by two foreign musicians 1995 to encourage the development of independent bands and original music.
This year, about 250 mostly local bands were invited to perform in the three-day program.
The annual event has attracted tens of thousands of tourists and been a substantial boon to local merchants, said Shi Jin-fang (施錦芳), director of the Kenting National Park Administration Office (KNPAO).
Police in Pingtung dispatch large numbers of officers every year to monitor the event and enforce drug prevention.
In addition to Spring Scream, seven music festivals were also organized at the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島).
Tens of thousands headed for Kenting over the weekend to attend the festivals.
KNPAO said that while the events boost the economy, they also result in environmental damage in the national park. About 200,000 people gathered at the Hengchun Peninsula during the festivals last year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique