Retired Hong Kong e-sports player Kurtis Lau Wai-kin (劉偉健), also known as “Toyz,” faces a jail sentence of more than four years after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against a conviction for trafficking and selling marijuana.
Lau’s prison sentence of four years and two months was in December last year upheld by the High Court, the Supreme Court verdict issued on Thursday last week said.
He was first sentenced by the Taichung District Court in 2022.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
Lau was arrested and detained in 2021 for allegedly selling marijuana online, after authorities found evidence of him possessing and distributing class 2 narcotics during a raid of his home in New Taipei City.
He pled guilty during the detention period and was released by the Taichung District Court on NT$1.5 million (US$46,069) bail, court documents showed.
Lau was accused in 2020 of forming a drug ring that had bought 500 marijuana vape pods from two men for NT$600,000, which can lead to a prison sentence of up to two years.
Lau allegedly asked a gang member to hire three men to sell 200 marijuana pods. One of the men, surnamed Lee (李), then used the messaging app Telegram as a sales channel for the marijuana pods priced at NT$4,500 to NT$7,000 each.
On Aug. 9, 2021, officers from the Changhua County Police Department, disguised as buyers, placed a bid to buy 154 marijuana pods for NT$165,000 and met with Lee in Taichung to arrest him and seize the pods.
Lau underwent a forced withdrawal of 40 days that concluded on Jan. 4, 2022, while serving as a “whistle-blower” in exchange for a less severe punishment.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Lau on six counts related to drug dealing offenses, along with seven other people accused of assisting in the crimes.
Lau competed as a mid-laner and won the League of Legends World Championship while playing for the e-sports club Taipei Assassins in 2012, the only time a club from Taiwan had won the competition.
Following his retirement in late 2015, Lau began coaching and took up managerial roles for e-sports teams in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
He has also been active as an influencer in Taiwan.
A free exhibition aimed at teaching the public about air-raid shelters and basic emergency personal protection skills today opened on the concourse level of the Taipei MRT's Ximen Station. The event, organized by the National Police Agency, aims to raise awareness about disaster preparedness ahead of nationwide air raid drills scheduled from July 15 to 18, which are part of broader urban resilience exercises. The exhibition outlines the recommended actions people should take depending on whether they are indoors, commuting or outdoors when air-raid sirens sound. It also teaches people how to equip air-raid shelters and pack emergency "go bags," with displays
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
An electric bus charging facility at Taipei Metro’s Beitou Depot officially opened yesterday with 22 charging bays to serve the city’s 886 electric buses. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) told a ceremony to mark the opening of the facility that the city aims to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2030. The number of electric buses has grown from about 650 last year to 886 this year and is expected to surpass 1,000 by the end of the year, Chiang said. Setting up the charging station in a metro depot optimizes land and energy use, as the metro uses power mainly during the
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
RSS