Nearly 700kg of ketamine powder was last week seized in a raid carried out by law enforcement at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday.
The ketamine powder, which has an estimated market value of NT$1 billion (US$34.71 million), was the biggest shipment of illegal drugs ever smuggled into Taiwan by air, the bureau said.
Acting on a tip-off, authorities on Thursday last week intercepted the Hong Kong shipment at the airport, CIB Deputy Commissioner Teng Hsueh-hsin (鄧學鑫) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
The officers also arrested a pickup driver and three customs officers believed to have been involved, Teng said.
During questioning, the customs officers denied any involvement and were later released on bail, Teng added.
The driver surnamed Wang (王) said that he was hired to deliver a cargo, but had no idea what it was, the bureau said.
Wang is being held with restricted communication, it said, adding that the case has been handed over to prosecutors for further investigation of alleged breaches of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
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