Police on Wednesday announced they seized 135kg of etomidate, a Category 2 narcotic commonly consumed by vaping, in the largest-ever single seizure of the recreational drug in Taiwan’s history.
The National Police Agency identified a suspicious shipment at Kaohsiung International Airport on Oct. 8. Using an X-ray, the shipment was found to contain 27 hidden bags of etomidate powder, the agency said at a news conference.
Police traced and apprehended the intended recipient of the shipment, a man surnamed Yeh (葉), in Kaohsiung’s Renwu District (仁武) on Oct. 11.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Yeh, 34, is suspected of contacting a drug trafficking group in May last year and paying NT$300,000 (US$9,225) to purchase the drugs.
The Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Yeh for violations of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) and recommended a 15-year sentence, it said.
The prosecutors said at the same news conference that the shipment of etomidate — a short-acting medical anesthetic that has grown in popularity as a recreational drug in recent years — could potentially have been used to produce 1.35 million “zombie cigarettes,” with an estimated street value of NT$2.7 billion.
At the time of Yeh’s arrest, etomidate was a Category 3 drug.
The substance, which has been implicated in fatal traffic incidents, including one in July that resulted in the deaths of two police officers, was reclassified by the Ministry of Justice as a more-serious Category 2 narcotic on Nov. 14.
According to the act, people convicted of using Category 2 narcotics — which includes etomidate, marijuana and fentanyl — face a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
At the same event, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) praised a national anti-drug operation that resulted in seizures of more than 4,000kg of illegal narcotics last month and early this month.
“Harm caused by drugs is a common problem around the world,” Cho said. “Only heavy punishments will deter drug syndicates.”
The news conference was called to announce the results of the 11th wave of the police agency’s “Operation Safe Homes” initiative, conducted from Oct. 1 to Nov. 9.
According to Cho, the operation investigated or apprehended 2,313 people suspected of drug-related activities, seized 4,160kg of narcotics and dismantled 103 drug factories.
“With stronger legal penalties going forward, law enforcement will be able to more effectively investigate and prevent tragedies [caused by etomidate],” Cho said.
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