Police yesterday announced the arrests of six men on suspicion of smuggling 100kg of ketamine into the country.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau said police arrested one Taiwanese suspect, Kuo Chi-lun (
Chog Ching Lue applied to import goods from Malaysia, the bureau said. The shipment arrived on Thursday at Kaohsiung Seaport and was to be transported to Keelung. Ketamine was found in the shipment.
Lue and the other suspects, who arrived in Taiwan before the shipment, planned to sell the ketamine within Taiwan, police said.
SURVEILLANCE
Five agencies cooperated in a surveillance operation -- the bureau, Taipei City police, aviation police, the Coast Guard Administration and military police -- after the bureau was tipped off about the drug smuggling ring.
Agents monitored the cargo, which was imported in the name of a defunct trading firm, upon arrival in Kaohsiung. Once the traffickers had retrieved the cargo and begun transporting it to northern Taiwan, police made the arrests.
'CONTROLLED DELIVERY'
A team from the bureau obtained permission from the Banciao Public Prosecutors Office to execute a "controlled delivery," allowing the drugs to reach their destination in order to track down more members of the drug ring.
Controlled delivery requires permission as it entails allowing illegal substances to be transported through a region even after they have been identified.
Several members of the drug ring were arrested in the greater Taipei area and at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the bureau said.
The law enforcement agents also impounded three laptops and 17 mobile phones used by the drug traffickers.
The bureau said transporting ketamine is a violation of the Narcotics Endangerment Prevention Act (
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