Yuan Ju-chih (苑汝琦), a 34-year-old former TV show assistant producer and former boyfriend of model Yvonne Yao (姚采穎), and Ricky Shu, a 28-year-old Taiwanese-American, were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of involvement in drug smuggling.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday said police are investigating whether any showbusiness figures are involved.
“A suspect we arrested last night has close connections with showbusiness. We have not yet discovered any solid evidence but investigations are continuing,” said deputy head of the CIB’s Third Division, Hsiao Juei-hao (蕭瑞豪).
Hsiao said the CIB received an anonymous tip-off that said an international drug dealing ring was importing drugs to Taiwan from the US by carrying drugs in luggage on regular passenger flights.
Shu was arrested by police at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport after arriving on a flight at around 6am on Thursday. The police said they discovered 1,019g of cocaine in his bag, estimated to be worth more than NT$10 million (US$315,000). Around noon on Thursday, police arrested Yuan in his office after linking Yuan to Shu.
Hsiao said Shu told police that he had been threatened and forced to work as a drug mule. Shu alleged Yuan was his contact person in Taiwan, which Yuan has denied.
“We discovered that Shu and Yuan had traveled between the US and Taiwan more than 10 times during the past two years,” Hsiao said, adding that police have launched an investigation into certain entertainers and artists after they learned of Yuan’s connection to them.
Meanwhile at a separate setting yesterday, Yao said she broke up with Yuan last August and has since had no contact with him.
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