Thirteen shipping containers of smuggled cigarettes were intercepted on Tuesday at the Port of Taichung, the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) Investigation Branch announced yesterday, adding that the seizure’s potential market value of NT$500 million (US$16.94 million) could be a record.
The branch’s Fongshan team on Tuesday confiscated the containers from the Da Dong cargo ship, registered to the Republic of Sierra Leone and piloted by a Taiwanese captain surnamed Wang (王). The ship had a crew of 12 Indonesians and 12 Chinese, as well as a Taiwanese chief engineer surnamed Kuo (郭).
The 13 containers, each 40ft long, contained more than 11,000 bales of cigarettes — with each bale expected to hold 500 packs — including Chinese brands Zhonghwa and Double Happiness, and South Korean brand Esse, the branch said.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
A source said that eight of the Indonesian crew members had wanted to leave the ship upon discovering that it was a smuggler, but Wang had refused to let them go and refused to pay them two months’ wages.
On Sunday, one of the Indonesian crew members called a priest in Kaohsiung, as the Da Dong was nearing the Port of Taichung, the source said, adding that the priest called a member of the Church in Taichung and asked them to inform the CGA’s central Taiwan branch.
However, the CGA denied that it was tipped off by an Indonesian.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
Investigation Branch Deputy Director Liu Chun-hsiung (劉峻雄) said that the CGA obtained proof that the Da Dong was a smuggler ship more than a year-and-a-half ago and had been closely monitoring it since it left the Port of Kaohsiung on Aug. 14.
The ship entered Port of Taichung on Tuesday — citing a faulty propulsion engine and saying that it needed to resupply its stock of fresh water — and was scheduled to stop for two hours, from 1pm to 3pm, Liu said.
However, the vessel entered the harbor at 11am, and the CGA seized the opportunity to board the ship and inspect its cargo, Liu added.
As of press time yesterday, the Fongshan team had not yet completed an inventory of the containers, but said that it hoped to finish by late last night.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office is expected to press charges against Wang, Kuo and other crew members for breaches of the Smuggling Penalty Act (懲治走私條例).
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