Coast guard officers seized a record amount of amphetamine being smuggled aboard a sampan off Taihsi township, Yunlin County, early yesterday morning.
Coast guard personnel, based in Putai, Chiayi, discovered the stash of amphetamine powder after boarding the boat, which had been sailing in the Taiwan Strait toward Yunlin early yesterday.
The two men aboard the vessel were taken to a Putai police station for questioning.
The amphetamine, in 53 vacuum-packed bags, weighed 53kg, and had a street value of some NT$260 million (US$7.6 million).
During a regular night patrol, the coast guard patrol forces spotted the sampan sailing from the direction of Penghu Island at around 1am.
Suspicions were aroused by the presence of five big gasoline barrels on the boat as the patrol considered it unusual for what looked liked a fishing vessel to be carrying so much gasoline and to have no caught fish on board.
The patrol followed the sampan for a while and cornered it about 37km away from Taihsi.
After boarding the boat, the coast guard officers discovered a concealed closet containing the amphetamine powder, which was marked as tea.
In addition to the drugs, cutting-edge equipment, including a global-positioning system and a satellite telephone, were also found on the boat.
While being questioned at the police station, one of the suspects reportedly admitted that he had traveled to China several days ago. He told the police that he had been taken by a Chinese fishing boat on Tuesday night to the demarcation line in the Taiwan Strait where the sampan picked him up for Yunlin.
Both men refused to disclose where the amphetamine had come from.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Bureau announced yesterday that its agents had uncovered 2kg of marijuana delivered from Belgium to a village in Ilan County by express air courier service on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off from the World Customs Organization, bureau agents raided a private company in Wuchieh village on Tuesday evening and uncovered six parcels of marijuana concealed in cartons of toys.
The consignee of the goods was the company's boss, Chu Kuang-tse, 41, officials said.
Chu was out of town when the police raided the company. They left a message asking him to come forward for questioning.
The case has been transferred to prosecutors for further investigation.
Police said they will cooperate with Belgian customs officers in investigating the source of the drug.
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