Asia-Pacific News
Taiwan uncovers international drug-smuggling ring
Sep 6, 2011, 5:00 GMT
Taipei - Investigators in Taiwan have arrested 17 people suspected of smuggling drugs worth 2 billion Taiwan dollars (6.87 million US dollars) over the past decade, local media said Tuesday.
They allegedly smuggled drugs into Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan, often by hiding the substances in food and tea containers, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said on its website Sunday.
Primary suspects Fan Ju-lin, 40, and Ma Fu-shien, 41, are thought to have organized drug deliveries via airline passengers to Thailand and the Netherlands, the China Post newspaper reported.
The gang escaped detection for years by sending their carriers as 'well-dressed and sophisticated travellers,' the report quoted bureau officials as saying.
Eight suspects disguised themselves as newlyweds on honeymoon last year, the bureau statement said.
Investigators had been following the case for a year, helped by tips from Japan and New Zealand, and started arrests and seizures in June, the bureau statement said.
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