Authorities in New Taipei City yesterday questioned a 25-year-old man in connection with the death of a teenage girl at a motel in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) after they allegedly took illegal drugs together.
Police officials said the man, surnamed Yeh (葉), called for ambulance assistance after his friend, a 17-year-old girl surnamed Chen (陳), fell unconscious in a motel room yesterday morning.
The girl was rushed to a local hospital, but had no vital signs on arrival and was pronounced dead.
Investigators searched the motel room and Yeh’s car for evidence, before taking Yeh to a local police station for questioning.
Police said that Chen came from Hualien County and her family had already contacted them for help in locating her as she had been missing for a few days.
Under questioning, Yeh said that he and Chen had met online three weeks ago.
Yeh said he invited Chen to Taipei for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
On Friday night, Yeh took Chen to a motel in Sindian District where he said they both took ecstasy pills, which were purchased from a drug dealer on Jhonghua Street in Sindian District earlier on Friday.
After staying at the motel room for about five hours, Yeh said that they wanted more ecstasy, so he drove to another motel on Beiyi Road in Sindian.
Soon after arriving at the motel room on Beiyi Road, Chen began to have spasms and then became unconscious, the police report said.
Investigators said they would wait for the results of yesterday’s forensic examination on the victim to determine if there was foul play involved, or if Yeh and Chen had used other illegal drugs the previous night.
Yeh is likely to face criminal charges for using illegal drugs and negligence causing death, pending the outcome of an investigation, police officials said.
Government officials have cited statistics from law enforcement agencies to highlight the rising trend of illegal drug use and trafficking in Taiwan.
Earlier this week, lawmakers debated passing amendments to the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), with some legislators pushing for more severe punishments for drug-related offenses.
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