Coast Guard Administration （CGA） officers inspect bags of narcotics seized in Taipei’s Shilin District on May 26 last year.
Photo courtesy of the CGA via CNA
2022/04/11 03:00
FIRST HAUL FROM THE REGION: The drugs originated in Iran, were processed in Afghanistan and smuggled to Taiwan through Pakistan, a coast guard official said
By Liu Hsiao-hsin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Forty kilograms of methamphetamine from the Golden Crescent region of South Asia was seized in New Taipei City’s Sindian District （新店） in February, the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement on Friday.
The bust was the second in the past year after 45kg was seized in Taipei’s Shilin District （士林） in May last year, the office said, adding that the combined street value of the seizures was more than NT$100 million （US$3.46 million）.
February’s bust was made when investigators discovered the methamphetamine in duffel bags hidden in an abandoned vehicle in a mountainous part of the district, it said.
Coast Guard Administration （CGA） official Chang Chi-hung （張旗宏）, who headed the investigation, said his team worked with CGA officials in Keelung, and Hsinchu, Pingtung and Kinmen counties, while also coordinating with police in Taichung, Taipei and New Taipei City.
The seizure in May was the first time that authorities discovered methamphetamine smuggled into Taiwan from the Golden Crescent region, he said.
The team made the discovery while investigating Taipei’s Northern Union triad for suspected oil smuggling, Chang said, adding that the methamphetamine was found in an oil drum.
Describing the gang as a “drug-trafficking group that has been in operation for a long time,” Chang said investigators believe that “there are more drugs out there we’ve not yet seized.”
The team first suspected that the drugs were from the Golden Crescent region when it found writing in Persian on some of the packaging, which it confirmed with assistance from the local office of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
It was determined that the methamphetamine originated in Iran, was processed in Afghanistan and was smuggled through Pakistan, he added.
“We cross-referenced our data on the traffickers with US data and confirmed they were connected with a Pakistani group,” Chang said.
Eight suspects were charged by a Taipei court with trafficking a class 2 narcotic in the first ruling on the case, he said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES