Three Taiwanese and one Chinese have been arrested in the central Philippines for illegally possessing dangerous drugs, police in the Philippines said in a report yesterday.
Police in Kalibo in Aklan province said the three Taiwanese — surnamed Hu, aged 30, Sun, 39, and Wang, 29, — and one Chinese were taken into custody on Saturday after a warrant was issued for their arrest.
They were wanted on suspicion of violating Section 11 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and are being detained in Kalibo prison, the police said.
It has been recommended that the four suspects be released on 200,000 peso (US$3,962) bail, the report said.
The report did not specify what drugs the suspects were accused of possessing.
All three were implicated in another case in the Philippines: They were among 17 Taiwanese arrested on Boracay on Aug. 22 last year in a sting operation after police arrested a Taiwanese attempting to sell amphetamines.
When police went to his residence, they came across telephones, computers and a list of potential fraud victims. Sixteen Taiwanese and eight Chinese in the house were also arrested.
According to a statement from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines in Manila at the time, the 17 Taiwanese said they went to Boracay on a working holiday, but further investigation found that 15 of them had previously been convicted of murder, drug-running, robbery, forgery and obstruction of official duties.
In other news, on Saturday night two Singaporean women were discovered carrying nearly NT$998,000 (US$32,811) in cash at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport without having declared it, and saw most of the money seized by customs authorities.
The two — a 33-year-old surnamed Chen and a 27-year-old surnamed Soh — were about to board a flight leaving Taiwan when customs inspectors at an X-ray checkpoint discovered the money in one of their handbags, airport police said.
Customs officials returned NT$100,000 to each of the women, but seized the remainder.
The women said that they had no knowledge of Taiwan’s new regulations covering currencies carried by inboard and outbound travelers.
An amendment to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) that took effect on June 28 stipulates that passengers entering or leaving Taiwan with more than NT$100,000, 20,000 Chinese yuan or foreign currency worth more than US$10,000 in cash have to declare it.
Undeclared currencies, as well as certain amounts of gold, or objects that could be used for laundering money can all be confiscated, the act states.
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