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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Drugs
Heroin found in floor tiles
Law enforcement officers have uncovered 14.5kg of high-grade heroin in a batch of wooden floor tiles transported by air from Myanmar, the aviation police bureau at CKS International Airport said yesterday. Acting on a tip-off earlier this month, aviation police and customs officers inspected a consignment of wooden floor tiles delivered to the airport's cargo terminal by a Cathay Pacific Airways all-cargo plane on Wednesday. The investigators uncovered 78 bricks of heroin concealed in the packaging material. The drugs have an estimated street value of NT$100 million, police said. The police arrested a 31-year-old suspect, surnamed Chang, who claimed that he was receiving the cargo on behalf of a Hong Kong man nicknamed "Ah-Chung." Since the beginning of this year, the police said, the bureau has uncovered nine drug trafficking cases and seized a total of 31.5kg of drugs, including 22.55kg of heroin.

■ Diplomacy
Indonesia charging for visas
Starting from Feb. 1, Taiwanese tourists traveling to Indonesia will have to pay visa fees, the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (TATA) said yesterday. TATA official Wu Yen-hui (吳雁輝) said the association has received notification from Indonesia that tourists traveling to Indonesia will no longer get landing visas free of charge beginning next month. He said tourist visas for bearers of Taiwanese passports will cost around NT$1,800 (US$53). Indonesia has traditionally been a hot destination for Taiwanese tourists, especially the resort island of Bali, but the outbreak of dysentery last October in Bali dampened the interest of Taiwan tourists for a while.

■ Public Welfare
Caretakers subsidized
In a bid to ease the burden on families with seriously physically challenged members and encourage those families to hire full-time domestic caretakers, the Cabinet yesterday approved to subsidize each qualified family hiring local caretakers with NT$10,000 a month. The measure will take effect immediately. The scheme is estimated to benefit 10,000 families and 10,000 domestic caretakers and will cost the government about NT1.2 billion annually. Local governments are responsible for subsidizing the domestic caretaking service of families with a low or medium income, while the Cabinet is to handle other families. The new measure will cover families with seriously physically challenged members regardless of their financial situation. In addition to the NT$10,000 monthly subsidy for qualified families hiring full-time domestic caretakers, qualified families are entitled to a full subsidy for a monthly caretaking service of less than 16 hours and a 50 percent subsidy for a monthly service of between 17 and 72 hours.

■ Drought
Tsengwen level falls
The water in Tsengwen Reservoir dropped to 71.4 million tonnes yesterday, or 13 percent of the reservoir's capacity, a spokesman for the Tsengwen Reservoir Administration said. He said the waterline dropped to 185.18m yesterday, the fourth lowest in the levels of water recorded on the same day in the past 30 years. The biggest reservoir on the island, Tsengwen is the main source of water in southern Taiwan. Eight-six percent of its water is used in agricultural irrigation. Water supplies for rice crops will be suspended this spring due to the water shortage, the spokesman said.

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