The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it has busted a drug trafficking ring and confiscated more than 1 tonne of heroin and amphetamines, with an estimated market value of NT$10 billion (US$338.74 million).
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) and Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office Chief Prosecutor Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) held a news conference on what is one of the nation’s biggest drug trafficking cases.
Officials said that a task force spent eight months on the case before detaining the ship Manshengtsai (滿聖財), registered to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and escorting it to Donggang Harbor (東港) on April 12.
Photo: CNA
The Manshengtsai was carrying 1,020 bricks of heroin weighing 395kg and 600 packs of amphetamine, weighing 645kg — enough drugs to sell to 100 million people, the task force said.
Prosecutor Chung Pei-yu (鍾佩宇) said that the alleged head of the smuggling operation is Huang Ta-chang (黃大彰), one of the few people in Taiwan smuggling drugs into the nation.
He is reportedly known to visit and purchase drugs in Southeast Asia, and has allegedly taken military planes or helicopters into the “Golden Triangle” region, where he deals directly with warlords and other narcotics traffickers, Chung said.
The confiscated heroin is of high purity, he said, adding that the bust could have been larger, but the Manshengtsai had been unable to carry more.
The office said it arrested the alleged transporters, Huang Sheng-hsiung (黃勝雄) and his brother, along with Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) and his wife, who were allegedly to facilitate the ship’s travel, as well Chen Hsien-ching (陳先境), who was allegedly in charge of drug distribution.
Authorities arrested Huang Ta-chang in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春), as they believed he was about to leave Taiwan, the office said.
The bust plugs one of the major drug import channels to Taiwan from the Golden Triangle, which is a significant accomplishment, it said.
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