A prominent pharmacist and proprietor of a drugstore chain has been detained for allegedly supplying ingredients for making amphetamines.
Wen Kuo-hsiung (溫國雄), who is also the chairman of the New Taipei City Pharmacists’ Association, was taken in for questioning on Tuesday, after prosecutors and police from criminal investigation units conducted raids and gathered evidence at several locations earlier in the day.
Wen was detained by the Shih-lin District Prosecutors’ Office in Taipei on charges of breaching the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
Wen, 45, is the founder of the Yoshida Pharmacy drugstore chain in Taiwan.
Police said they found 30 wooden drums containing propiophenone in the basement of Yoshida Pharmacy’s flagship store in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊). They seized 600kg of propiophenone, which they said was produced at facilities in southern Taiwan and intended for export.
Propiophenone is an intermediary chemical used in synthesizing pharmaceuticals and organic compounds. It is an ingredient used in making perfumes and is also a precursor for making amphetamines, a stimulant classified as an illegal drug that is forbidden in most countries.
“The 600kg of propiophenone has an estimated value of about NT$8 million [US$257,632],” a spokesman for the prosecutors’ office said. “Each 2kg [of propiophenone] can be used to make 1kg of amphetamines.”
The spokesman said that 1kg of amphetamines could sell for NT$2 million on the market, so Wen and his accomplices could have made huge profits from the illegal operation.
Wen denied possessing materials used to make illegal drugs, and insisted that he has not broken the law.
Officials said that as a well-known pharmacist who heads a professional trade organization, Wen has the training to know what the chemical is used for and the expertise to produce amphetamines.
Criminal investigation units have been monitoring Wen for some time, a police spokesperson said, adding that the investigators found that he imported ingredients from China, which were synthesized into propiophenone at factories in Tainan and Kaohsiung by an accomplice, Wu Ming-hung (吳明宏), who used to work as a deputy manager at a biotechnology company.
Investigators said that they suspected Wen and Wu worked together, as the pair arranged for the export of propiophenone and had contacts with syndicates in other countries.
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