Following weeks of careful undercover work, police raided an isolated shack in the mountains of Nantou County, targeting an operation that was allegedly producing illegal drugs, Taichung police official Chen Pu-ching (陳布青) told a news briefing on Thursday.
Three main suspects were detained and face charges of contravening the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), said Chen, who is a captain in the city’s Seventh Criminal Investigation Section.
Materials to make drugs were seized, including plastic drums containing more than 200kg of liquid that tests showed was mephedrone and derivative chemicals, Chen said.
The substances are used in the production of designer drugs known as “bath salts,” which have psychoactive and hallucinatory effects when ingested, he said, adding that other items seized included drums of toluene and acid solutions, sacks of other chemicals and laboratory equipment.
“Bath salts” are crystals that are mixed with other drugs and packaged in sealed pouches known as “narcotic coffee mix,” Chen said.
The pouches are sold at nightclubs and entertainment venues, he said.
In April, two men were arrested in possession of such pouches, which were traced to a man surnamed Chou (周), Chen said.
Investigators determined that Chou often traveled to a secluded location in a hilly area of Nantou County and they tracked him to a shack of metal sheeting near Wujie Village (武界) in Renai Township (仁愛), Chen said.
“It took more than a month of hard work to build the case,” because there is only one trail to the shack and Chou had installed video cameras, making it difficult to approach undetected, Chen said.
“Officers posed as hikers or forestry workers to approach the shack without raising suspicion,” he said, adding that the work allowed investigators to obtain a search warrant.
If Chou and his men had suspected they were being monitored, they would have abandoned the site and moved to another remote spot, jeopardizing the hard work of police, Chen said.
Taichung police backed by a special operations unit carried out a raid in May, arresting two male suspects surnamed Lin (林), 48, and Liu (劉), 46, with Liu allegedly in charge of producing the drugs, Chen said.
Chou and two other men allegedly engaged in the drug production activity, surnamed Ho (何), 33, and Hung (洪), 49, were apprehended last month, he said.
Ho, who had been in China, was arrested at the airport upon his return to Taiwan, an operation timed with the arrests of Chou and Hung, investigators said.
Ho apparently learned how to make bath salts from criminal syndicates in China, as recordings of conversations showed that Chou instructed Liu to call Ho for help with chemical reactions, Chen said.
Police officials warned that producing and trafficking narcotics and recreational drugs are serious crimes.
People should not try unknown drugs, they added.
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