Kaohsiung prosecutors on Tuesday last week indicted five suspects following a major bust of a criminal ring in August that allegedly smuggled contraband cigarettes and heated tobacco products via fishing vessels.
The bust — one of Kaohsiung’s largest — uncovered an estimated NT$100 million (US$3.18 million) of illegal tobacco products hidden in the cargo of fishing boats, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Searches of three suspect fishing boats were carried out by sniffer dogs of a task force made up of Kaohsiung police, Coast Guard Administration personnel and prosecutors, according to the prosecutors’ indictment.
Photo courtesy of law enforcement
The searches were made following tips of a criminal ring engaged in the smuggling of tobacco products from abroad on fishing boats docking at one of Kaohsiung’s harbors, with Chief Prosecutor Chang Chun-hui (張春暉) setting up a task force in response.
Chang instructed two other prosecutors to coordinate with the coast guard’s patrol and observation posts for regular monitoring along the coast, with three fishing boats observed conducting suspicious activity in August.
The task force tracked the three fishing boats — Jin Ji Li No. 29 (金佶利29號), Jin Ji Li No. 27 (金佶利29號) and Jin Fong Man (全豐滿) — sailing toward Taiwan’s territorial waters, and meeting just outside the waters to pick up cargo from foreign vessels, Chang said.
They then returned to dock at Singda Harbor (興達漁港), in the city’s Jiading District (茄萣), to unload their cargo on Aug. 27, he said.
The task force intercepted the shipment as it was about to be unloaded, he said, adding that they had search warrants issued by the Ciaotou District Court
Coast guard personnel with sniffer dogs searched the cargo hold and hidden compartments, where they found more than 1 million packages of undeclared foreign-made tobacco products, including 817,130 packs of cigarettes, and 195,020 packages of heated tobacco products and vaping cartridges, Chang said.
All the alleged smuggled contraband was confiscated, as the cargo was not declared, while five suspects were questioned, including three captains operating the vessels — surnamed Chen (陳), Hsia (夏) and Chang (張) — and two truck drivers who allegedly worked as members of the smuggling operation.
The five were indicted for contravening the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法).
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