Security-force police officer dismissed for drug offense

The police unit in charge of protecting government and foreign officials has fired one of its division chiefs after he was discovered taking drugs.

Tung Chun-hsien (董俊賢), a division leader in the Sixth Peace Preservation Police, was arrested on Monday night during a raid by the Taipei County Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division at a location on Taipei City's Hsinglung Road.

Officers found heroin on him, and a urine test indicated that he had taken the drug.

"We are sorry that he was one of us and we are sorry that we have to do this," Chen Fu-jung (陳富榮), the deputy chief of the Sixth Peace Preservation Police, said. "However, we also want to remind our fellow officers not to do anything like that anymore. Your mission is to protect innocent people and enforce the law, not to commit crimes and take drugs."

Tung's superiors would also be punished, Chen said, without elaborating.

The 34-year-old Tung was the head of the Third Division of the Second Squad under the Sixth Peace Preservation Police in charge of security patrols at an embassy complex in Tienmu. Tung did not patrol himself, but was responsible for making sure his colleagues followed the schedule.

Tung was transferred to the Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office after a short interrogation. The court immediately approved a prosecutors' request to send Tung to the Taipei Drug Abstention and Treatment Center in Tucheng, Taipei County, for a two-week drug rehabilitation program.

As of press time yesterday, prosecutors had not decided whether to indict Tung, but said they had no evidence that Tung was dealing drugs.

In a statement to prosecutors, Tung said he developed connections with drug dealers when he was a regular police officer, and had been using heroin for about six months.

The second squad, to which Tung belonged, provides security for embassies and the heads of government offices. The Sixth Peace Preservation Police also has a first squad, which is responsible for the security of the president and vice president.

This is the second scandal to rock the security unit in two weeks.

On July 16, New Party Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) made public accusations by a woman, who Lee would not name, that she had been raped by one of Premier Yu Shyi-kun's bodyguards.