The Hsinchu District Court has handed prison sentences ranging from four to 10 years to nine men in connection with the largest cannabis growing operation ever uncovered in Taiwan.
Nearly 6,000 cannabis plants as well as various cannabis products with a total market value of NT$2 billion (US$60.81 million) were seized, according to the court's verdict released recently.
File photo courtesy of the Hsinchu Police Bureau
A man surnamed Chih (池) was sentenced to 10 years for organizing crime syndicates and producing Category 2 narcotics.
Another seven were sentenced to four years or five years and four months for participating in a crime syndicate and producing category two narcotics.
Another man, surnamed Lin (林), was sentenced to six years and two months, as he was additionally found guilty of electricity theft.
A 10th individual was handed over to the Juvenile Court because he was underage at the time of the crime.
The ruling can be appealed.
The 10 were found to have cultivated cannabis plants in two separate warehouses in Hsinchu County, as well as harvesting the plants and producing them into products to sell between August 2023 and May last year, according to the verdict.
Meanwhile, Lin was found to have also tampered with the electric meters at one of the warehouses.
During the plantation, a total of 1.3 million kWh of power was estimated to have been consumed and uncharged, totaling an electricity fee of NT$5.39 million, the verdict said.
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