The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted a 22-year-old military policeman surnamed Chang (張) for contravening the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) by allegedly selling marijuana, a Category 2 narcotic.
Chang allegedly sold marijuana twice, in December last year and January, the office said.
The Taipei Police Department said that its Wanhua Precinct earlier this year arrested a server at a club for possession of marijuana.
After questioning other servers and customers, the precinct learned that the marijuana was purchased from a dealer via a dating app, the department said, adding that it then contacted the dealer and asked to buy marijuana.
Officers detained Chang after he arrived with marijuana to sell, it said.
Police found more marijuana in Chang’s residence and learned that he was serving in the Military Police Command’s 332nd Brigade, which is known for guarding the presidential residence along with the 221st Brigade.
In his testimony, Chang said that he purchased marijuana online from other sources and had never sold to other brigade members, the office said.
The command said that it has given Chang two major demerits over the incident and is in the process of discharging him.
It was not the first time that a member of the military police has been embroiled in narcotics-related incidents. Three military police officers in 2017 were caught using amphetamines.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai