Mon, Jan 01, 2024 page3

• Authorities seize 1.3 tonnes of drugs in joint operation

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  Ten sailors have been detained on suspicion of smuggling 1.3 tonnes of marijuana earlier this month, the largest drug haul of its kind in Taiwan, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said on Friday.

  The marijuana seized had a street value of NT$3.5 billion (US$113.9 million), prosecutors said, adding that the illegal operation was interdicted from Dec. 9 to 12 in the northwestern waters off Kaohsiung, where five uncrewed rafts being used to shuttle drugs from a Mongolian oil tanker were seized.

  Prosecutors said that they worked with the Coast Guard Administration and multiple police departments across Taiwan to intercept the first uncrewed raft, registered in Tainan, on Dec. 10, which was carrying four bags of marijuana weighing 221.7kg. The next day, the task force again seized four similar rafts drifting in the same area, carrying 1,159.3kg of marijuana in 20 bags with the same packaging as the previous haul.

  

  Marijuana seized by the Coast Guard Administration in the northwestern waters off Kaohsiung is placed on the ground in an undated photograph.

  Photo copied by Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times

  The evidence enabled the squad to track down the tanker, which is believed to have transported the marijuana, near Kaohsiung’s Singda Port (興達港), prosecutors said.

  At the request of prosecutors, the Ciaotou District Court ordered the detention of all 10 suspects — the tanker’s Taiwanese owner, surnamed Huang (黃), two Taiwanese crew members and seven Burmese sailors — for allegedly violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).

  The marijuana seized in the operation — which is listed as a Category 2 drug in Taiwan — could be processed into 2.8 million cigarettes, prosecutors said.

  Separately, two visitors from the Philippines are being investigated for allegedly trying to smuggle heroin into Taiwan via Kaohsiung International Airport, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Kaohsiung Field Division said on Thursday.

  More than 9kg of heroin, with a street value of about NT$30 million, was found in their luggage, the division said in a statement.

  The division said it was notified by overseas sources in September that travelers from Southeast Asia, posing as tourists, would attempt to smuggle heroin into Taiwan.

  After processing the information, the authorities were able to identify two Filipino nationals who flew from Manila to Taiwan on China Airlines flight CI712, which arrived early in the morning on Sept. 22.

  On arrival, personnel from Kaohsiung customs scanned their luggage with X-ray scanners, and found large amounts of white powder wrapped in bandages and hidden in backpacks.

  The powder was later tested by customs personnel and confirmed to be heroin, the division said.

  Heroin is classified as a Category 1 narcotic in Taiwan, and under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, anyone caught manufacturing, transporting or selling such drugs are subject to the death penalty or life imprisonment.

  A task force made up of personnel from the division, Kaohsiung customs and Kaohsiung Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps arrested the Filipino nationals at the airport, it said.

  This is the largest amount of Category 1 narcotics seized at Kaohsiung International Airport in recent years, it said.

  It added that the case is currently being investigated by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office.
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