The Taipei Police Department last year uncovered 6,138 cases involving narcotics, marking a 36.1 percent increase compared with the number of cases in 2014, statistics released yesterday by the Taipei Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed.
Drug offenses, including drug abuse, manufacturing and smuggling, were the most prevalent crime among Taipei residents aged between 18 and 23, statistics showed.
The rise in the number of drug-related offenses has been criticized by Taipei City Councilor Hsieh Wei-chou (謝維洲), who brought up the issue during a question-and-answer session with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) earlier this month.
Tsai Chin-lang (蔡金郎), director of the department’s Criminal Investigation Division, said the increase in the number of drug smuggling cases should not be interpreted as drugs becoming more prevalent in Taipei, rather, it is an indicator that police have stepped up their inspections over the past year.
Tso Hui-chung (左慧中), head of the division’s Investigation Section, said the increase in cases showed that there had been more drug offenses than those that had been discovered.
Citing National Police Agency statistics, Tso said that only 48 percent of the 6,138 cases were uncovered in Taipei.
“Taipei police often track down narcotics to other cities, as drugs are regularly transported from one place to another,” she said.
Citing a comment by Ko that drugs should be controlled from “upstream” sources, Tso underlined the importance of customs inspections.
“As Taiwan’s climate is unsuitable for growing opium poppies or cannabis plants, about 90 percent of drugs circulating in the nation are imported,” she said.
Tso said that Ko had made drug control one of his central policies after assuming office, so the division launched an operation that placed more emphasis on inspections and as a result uncovered 268kg more narcotics last year than it did in 2014.
Kunming Prevention and Control Center Deputy Director Shu Lien-wen (束連文) said an intergovernmental panel under the Taipei Drug Prevention Center, headed by Ko, holds quarterly meetings to review the city’s policies on narcotics.
He said the Taipei Department of Education is in charge of providing counseling to young people who could potentially become drug users, such as school dropouts or those that are affiliated with gangs.
The Department of Education holds a number of workshops every year to increase students’ awareness of the risks associated with drugs, he said.
Several agencies, such as the Taipei Hospital, as well as the city’s Health, Civil Affairs and Compulsory Military Service departments have all been promoting policies to raise public awareness about narcotics, Shu said.
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