Police yesterday raided several nightclubs in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) and conducted spot checks as part of a government campaign to combat increasing drug use among young people.
Some patrons said that they were bothered by the raids and that police had spoiled their fun as officers sealed off streets and moved into the nightclubs to conduct drug sweeps, stopping music and turning on nightclub house lights.
“We mobilized 150 police officers and brought in eight sniffer dogs to conduct the drug sweep,” Xinyi Police Precinct Chief Wu Ching-tien (吳敬田) said.
Photo: Huang Chien-hua, Taipei Times
During the sweeps, police ordered patrons to remain where they were and prepare their IDs for control, while police handlers led sniffer dogs in search of drugs.
Outside, a separate detachment carried out spot checks on passers-by and people waiting to enter the nightclubs, while sniffer dogs checked handbags and other items.
Wu said the sweep came in advance of the summer holidays, when students are out of school and many young people visit nightclubs, where they could be enticed into trying drugs.
“We are looking to intercede in the possession, sales and trafficking of narcotics. Another priority is to cut off the source by cracking down on the production and supply of drugs,” Wu said.
Wu said that they found suspected illegal drugs on several people in yesterday’s sweep, along with assorted unknown powdered substances and pills, but added that he could not disclose more information, as test results were still pending on confiscated material.
Similar raids were also carried out at nightclubs in other major cities.
National Police Agency Director-General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩) said law enforcement agencies would focus on combating the drug problem, along with cracking down on telecommunications fraud and other scams.
Chen said that more police raids and searches would be conducted at premises throughout the summer.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition