A fire last year at a Tatung University laboratory rented out to a biotech entrepreneur led to the discovery of three suspected illegal drug factories, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the CIB said prosecutors were investigating the operation’s suspected ringleader, a 48-year-old man surnamed Chang (章), who was arrested at a lab in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on May 15.
During the arrest, police seized more than 5kg of Category 3 and 4 narcotics, including 656g of ketamine, the CIB said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau via CNA
The CIB said it had formed a task force to investigate Chang after receiving a tip-off in February last year that the biotech company supervisor had been renting lab space from a university in northern Taiwan since April 2019 to produce drugs.
Chang had begun renting the space on the pretense of developing new medicines, before importing materials and equipment worth NT$40 million (US$1.28 million) from China for illegal drug production, CIB said.
In March last year, follow-up inquiries by police led them to a fire at the Tatung University, and they investigated one of Chang’s chemists, surnamed Yi (易) and four assistants recruited to produce drugs at two sites in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District (大寮), the CIB said.
The CIB said that Yi was arrested along with two of the four assistants in May last year during an operation in which 31kg of illegal narcotics were also seized.
The CIB added that the two other assistants were arrested at a later date.
Prosecutors are also investigating seven suspected accomplices of Chang arrested last month, the CIB said.
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