The Chiayi District Prosecutors Office yesterday indicted five individuals for their roles in a ketamine production case, in which an estimated 100 kilograms of the drug have already entered the market.
The five were indicted for manufacturing Category 3 narcotics, as defined in the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.
Prosecutors did not recommend specific sentences for the defendants, but asked the court to hand down “appropriate sentences” for two individuals, surnamed Huang (黃) and Su (蘇), who played “key roles” in the criminal operation.
Photo courtesy of Chiayi District Prosecutors Office
According to the indictment, the 28-year-old Huang received NT$100,000 (US$3,164) from a drug syndicate and, following instructions, rented a corrugated metal warehouse in a remote area of Shuishang Township in Chiayi County, to serve as a drug production site.
The 31-year-old Su was then brought in for his expertise in producing ketamine, which prosecutors said he had learned in Cambodia. Su then recruited three additional men to assist in the operation.
On March 13, 2025, Huang drove the other four suspects to the production site, and he was also responsible for supplying them with daily necessities, prosecutors alleged.
After receiving reports of the drug production operation, the Taichung City Police Department and the Coast Guard Administration’s Yunlin Investigative Branch formed a joint task force and raided the warehouse on April 6.
During the operation, officers arrested the five suspects and seized evidence, including ketamine, semi-finished drugs, raw materials and drug-manufacturing equipment, according to the indictment.
According to prosecutors, most of the drugs produced by the time of the raid had already entered the market, posing a serious threat to public safety.
They noted that Huang initially denied any involvement, claiming he was unaware that Su was producing drugs, but he later confessed.
Prosecutors also said that Su refused to cooperate with authorities at the time of his arrest by withholding the password to his mobile phone.
This allowed his accomplices to remotely delete messages on the device, hindering the police investigation, they said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS