Four Malaysian nationals were arrested Sunday at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taiwan's main international gateway, for attempting to smuggle 20.258kg of heroin into the country, police and customs authorities announced yesterday.
It was the largest seizure of heroin to be smuggled into Taiwan by foreign suspects since the airport was inaugurated in 1979.
Airport police said the four Malaysian suspects -- three men and one woman -- arrived at CKS Airport around noon on Sunday on board a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok.
Police said they alerted customs inspectors after they spotted one of the four, Chong Kee-won (
Chong later told police that his three accomplices -- identified as Nghaok Chuan (黃福泉), Wong Chin-moi (黃金妹) and Chan Chew-kam (陳兆錦) -- had already left the airport for the Lai Lai Sheraton Hotel in downtown Taipei to meet Taiwan drug dealers.
When they arrived at the hotel, airport police saw the three Malaysians sitting in a coffee shop. On their table they displayed a Polo travel bag, a pair of red warm-up pants, a beige protective bandage, a pack of "555" cigarettes and a pack of Dunhill cigarettes. These articles were a signal for their Taiwanese connection, according to police.
After a long wait, none of the supposed Taiwanese buyers showed up. Police then arrested the trio and seized the 15kg of heroin they had on them.
The drug-trafficking suspects told police that they were transporting the heroin from Bangkok to Taipei for a Thai man in his 30s, nicknamed Ango, at a service charge of 18,000 Malaysian ringgit (about NT$200,000) each.
CKS Airport Police Bureau chief Chang Su-liang (
"We have since stepped up inspections on passengers from Southeast Asian countries," he added.
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