Police on Friday seized 24 guns, 1,200 bullet cartridges and narcotics in a series of raids in New Taipei City.
A 29-year-old man surnamed Cheng (鄭), who is allegedly a member of the Heavenly Way Alliance, has been placed in detention and might face firearms and drug charges, the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release yesterday.
Two dozen guns were confiscated, in addition to 14.33kg of mephedrone, 969 bags of ketamine mixed with amphetamine and other substances, and 40 bags of ketamine, the office said.
Photo: CNA
Authorities suspect that Cheng was providing guns for other members of the gang and led a drug ring that operated in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), it said.
Two of Cheng’s alleged associates, one surnamed Pan (潘) and another surnamed Wang (王), were released on bail of NT$70,000 and NT$20,000 respectively, the office said, adding that a fourth suspect is still at large.
Law enforcement officials said that intelligence from another investigation revealed that the Heavenly Way Alliance might be storing arms in New Taipei City.
The Criminal Investigation Division, Taipei’s Zhongshan Police Precinct and the National Police Bureau’s Special Task Unit then created a task force to organize the raids, they said.
Police said that Cheng was arrested in an apartment in Tamsui that contained drugs, while a shed on a property he rented contained one cache of guns, and a second cache of guns was found when police searched Wang’s home.
Rifles, submachine guns and semi-automatic shotguns were among the weapons recovered during the raids, the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division said on Friday.
The serial numbers and design suggest that some of the guns were manufactured in an illegal arms factory in the Philippines, police said.
The pistols were mostly genuine Beretta and Ceska zbrojovka weapons, although one handgun was likley created in an illegal workshop, police said.
Additional reporting by Chen Chia-yu
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