Taiwan Quick Take: Smuggler gets off light

A Taiwanese businessman received a six-month suspended sentence and was placed on probation for three years after being found guilty of smuggling missile components to Libya, a court official said yesterday. The businessman, surnamed Hsieh, ran a trading company in Taoyuan County. He was found to have trafficked missile parts disguised as general merchandise to Libya since 1999, the official said. Hsieh, arrested last year, had the items custom-made at local factories, he said. Taiwanese authorities began their investigations after the "auto spare parts" were discovered to be missile components and confiscated by British customs in 1999 during transshipment. In 2000, Hsieh was caught by Swiss police carrying missile components in his luggage at Zurich airport and was expelled from the country.