Investigators last week seized more than 200kg of cocaine packed inside car batteries imported from Brazil, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said yesterday.
During the raid on cargo at Kaohsiung customs, investigators also found 51.3kg of amphetamine, the bureau said.
It was the biggest drug haul in the nation’s history, the bureau said, estimating the cocaine’s market value at NT$2 billion (US$62.5 million).
The raid was carried out by Taipei district prosecutors, bureau agents and also coast guard and customs officers following an investigation into a Taipei-based import/export company, the bureau said.
It was found that the company was selling batteries for large cars to Australia at a price of less than NT$10,000 per unit, but that shipping costs were NT$30,000 per unit, the bureau said.
An initial inspection of a batch of batteries at Kaohsiung customs on Thursday last week revealed the 51.3kg of amphetamine concealed in fake batteries, the bureau said.
One suspect was arrested and a raid on his home turned up NT$2.45 million and several rounds of ammunition, which were seized by investigators, along with a Mercedes sedan, the bureau said.
The following day, a shipment of car batteries from Brazil to the suspect company was searched at Kaohsiung customs, with the aid of sniffer dogs, and 218.45kg of cocaine was found, the bureau said.
It said about 200 cocaine bricks were packed into lead containers made to look like car batteries, which meant that scanners were unable to identify the illicit cargo.
The amount of cocaine was enough to supply about 11 million people, the bureau said.
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