Two Malaysian nationals have been indicted in Taiwan for smuggling nearly 3kg of heroin with an estimated street value of more than NT$30 million (US$983,011), the Aviation Police Bureau said.
The bureau told reporters yesterday that the two men were invited to Taiwan by a drug trafficking group, which offered them payment to carry the Category One narcotic into the country.
In June, the Taipei branch of the Customs Administration and the bureau's Security Inspection Squad noticed a suspicious bag while conducting an X-ray screening of baggage arriving from Malaysia.
Photo courtesy of Aviation Police Bureau
According to the bureau's Criminal Investigation Division, one of the suspects, a man in his 20s identified as “J,” admitted to police that he had traveled to Taiwan with another Malaysian, “D.”
J told police that D asked him to collect the luggage while D entered Taiwan first, the investigators said.
The bureau said D was intercepted by customs and police officers, and afterward they opened the luggage and found 2.981kg of heroin.
Chen Po-chuan (陳博全), head of the division’s second investigation squad, said surveillance footage showed J taking a taxi to a hotel in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) after entering the country.
Chen said a task force formed by the bureau and the Taoyuan Police Department’s Zhongli and Pingjhen precincts executed an arrest warrant the same day, apprehending J at the hotel and seizing a mobile phone they claim was used to communicate with other suspects.
According to police, the two men told investigators that they had known each other in Malaysia and found the job opportunity through an online post advertising part-time work.
They said they were promised a free three-day, two-night trip to Taiwan and NT$35,000 each to bring the goods into the country, with someone arranged to collect the items after their arrival.
The bureau said the case was transferred to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors' Office for prosecution under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
The bureau warned that anyone found guilty of manufacturing, transporting, or selling Category One narcotics in Taiwan faces the death penalty or life imprisonment, and that life sentences may include a fine of up to NT$30 million.
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