Two Vietnamese men were arrested for receiving 2.2kg of dried cannabis flower worth NT$3 million (US$99,837) via international package, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday.
The suspects, surnamed Vo and Ngo, were arrested on May 22 and June 2 respectively, after Taipei Customs reported finding the drugs in a package from Thailand on May 15, the bureau told a news conference.
Photo courtesy of the Criminal Investigation Bureau
It said the customs officials flagged the package as "suspicious" following an X-ray inspection, and opened the package to find two cookie boxes with nine packages of cannabis flower inside.
Police followed the package and arrested Vo, 31, who had collected it, at a factory in Changhua County.
Vo claimed a friend had asked him to retrieve the package for someone else and denied knowing it contained cannabis, police said.
After further investigation, police discovered that Ngo, 37, planned to collect the package from Vo at his residence and arrested him in Taipei.
Ngo claimed he had "asked a friend to send medicine from overseas" and denied both knowing Vo and knowing that the package contained illicit drugs, the bureau said.
Ngo, an absconded migrant worker, was already wanted by authorities in Taipei for drug, fraud and money laundering offenses, the bureau added.
The suspects have been detained incommunicado, the bureau said.
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
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