Taichung District Prosecutors Office Directed the Investigation Units, Customs Office and Police to Solve the Smuggling Crime of 525-Kilogram Drugs. After the Investigation Was Concluded, A Public Prosecution Was Initiated and An Explanatory Press Conference Was Held.
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- Last updated:2024-08-28
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The Taichung District Prosecutors Office (“the Office”) investigated a case of smuggling 2nd-level drug methamphetamine and 3rd-level drug ketamine weighing 525 kilograms in total. The smuggler is a transnational drug smuggling syndicate. After Prosecutor WU Sheng-Feng concluded the investigation, the Office considered that the 3 defendants including Xiao and the other Thai citizens, KW and PS, had clearly committed the offense of transporting 2nd-level drugs specified in Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act of which the defendants had acted in violation, and thereby initiated a public prosecution with Taiwan Taichung District Court on July 15, 2024. Today (29th), the Office and other units of investigation, customs, police and immigration agency that cracked down on this case together, jointly hold a press conference to publicly explain to all walks of life. Minister of Justice, CHENG Ming-Chien, attends in person to commend all colleagues for their hard work in investigating this case. In addition, other attendees are Chief Prosecutor CHANG Tou-Hui of Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, Chief Prosecutor LIN Chin-Chun of Taichung Branch, Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, Director General Michael CHEN of Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Deputy Director General CHEN Shih-Feng of Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, Deputy Commissioner HUANG Yung-Chih of Police Department of Taichung City Government, General Commander HUANG Chia-Chi of The Third Special Police Corps, National Police Agency, Director CHANG Ying-Jen of Maritime Affairs Field Division, MJIB, Chief Inspector TSAI Chao-An of Taichung Harbor Police Department, Director CHEN Mu-Sheng of Taichung Customs, Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred to as “Taichung Customs”), and Chief Prosecutor CHANG Chieh-Chin of the Office.
This case originated in March this year. In the course of conducting cargo inspection, Taichung Customs discovered that methamphetamine and ketamine were hidden in the interlayer of wooden furniture imported from Laos as declared, and immediately reported the event. Accordingly, Maritime Affairs Field Division, MJIB requested the Office to conduct an investigation. The Office immediately assigned Prosecutor WU Sheng-Feng to direct Taichung Investigation Branch of Maritime Affairs Field Division, MJIB, Taichung Customs, The First Corp of The Third Special Police Corps, Criminal Investigation Corps of Taichung Harbor Police Department, Qingshui Precinct of Taichung City Police Department, and Technology Investigation Center of Central Taiwan Administration Corps, National Immigration Agency to jointly form a task force that, afterwards on March 19 this year at Wuqi District, Taichung City, cracked down the smuggling of 2nd-level drug methamphetamine in 302 packages having a total gross weight of 317 kilograms, and 3rd-level drug ketaminestrict in 198 packages having a total gross weight of 208 kilograms. The above drugs together have a total gross weight of 525 kilograms (total net weight of 498 kilograms) which are valued at a black market price of NT$ 2.1 billion approximately. This is the largest quantity of drugs seized in recent times using sea containers for smuggling.
After checking related information, the task force identified two Thai suspects. With their spirit of perseverance, the task force compared the money flow and reviewed the surveillance footage, thereby controlling the two Thai suspects’ whereabouts in Taiwan and being able to arrest them when they appeared to pick up the goods. The task force petitioned the court to detain the two Thai suspects, which was approved accordingly. Furthermore, through technological investigation of and digital evidence collection from the electromagnetic records of the mobile phones of the two Thai defendants, it was found out that defendant Xiao was responsible for renting a warehouse and carrying out customs declaration in Taiwan. After defendant Xiao was arrested as soon as he returned to Taiwan, the task force petitioned the court to detain him, which was approved. The three defendants formed a transnational drug trafficking syndicate to use legality to cover illegality. At the end of 2023, they rented a warehouse in the name of a domestic company and assisted in customs clearance, attempting to smuggle drugs through international trade by way of imported furniture. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of the whole task force in collecting complete information and closely monitoring the entire process, the smuggling crime was successfully solved. The prosecutor of the Office completed the investigation and initiated a public prosecution, successfully preventing the flow of a large amount of drugs into the country.
Speaking at the press conference, Minister CHENG Ming-Chien said, “The investigation team successfully intercepted drugs transported in wooden furniture. It is a major anti-drug achievement. Ministry of Justice has always supported the strategy of establishing a drug-free home and continues to promote counter-narcotic operations. Our search and crackdown for drugs will never end. We must keep drugs out of the country and fight drugs inside the country to make Taiwan a drug-free home and protect the health of our people.” Furthermore, Chief Prosecutor CHANG Tou-Hui also said in his speech, “The spirit of joint cooperation among anti-drug partners has achieved the important policy of interdicting drugs overseas, detecting drugs at checkpoints, and conducting anti-drug operations at home. Last year, the amount of drug seizures hit a record high, and the crackdown on drugs is still continuing this year. According to statistics, the proportion of drug offenders in prisons has dropped from about half of the past to about 40%, and the number of new inmates has also dropped by more than 40%. Anti-drugs are a war that cannot be lost. We will continue to work hard to strengthen the control and investigation of traditional drugs and emerging drugs.”
Drugs not only endanger the health of Taiwanese people, but also cause social security problems, which have posed a severe test to the overall development of the country. In order to severely crack down on drug crimes, the Office will continue to work with the investigation, customs, police, immigration and other units of the anti-drug system to launch a strict anti-drug campaign. The network intercepts large quantities of drugs at checkpoints, traces their sources and dismantles drug trafficking syndicates, and is committed to implementing the Executive Yuan’s goal of “intercepting drugs at checkpoints and arresting drug offenders inland” to protect the health of the people and maintain social security.
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