A fire last year at a Tatung University laboratory rented out to a biotech entrepreneur led to the discovery of three suspected illegal drug factories, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the CIB said prosecutors were investigating the operation’s suspected ringleader, a 48-year-old man surnamed Chang (章), who was arrested at a lab in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on May 15.
During the arrest, police seized more than 5kg of Category 3 and 4 narcotics, including 656g of ketamine, the CIB said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau via CNA
The CIB said it had formed a task force to investigate Chang after receiving a tip-off in February last year that the biotech company supervisor had been renting lab space from a university in northern Taiwan since April 2019 to produce drugs.
Chang had begun renting the space on the pretense of developing new medicines, before importing materials and equipment worth NT$40 million (US$1.28 million) from China for illegal drug production, CIB said.
In March last year, follow-up inquiries by police led them to a fire at the Tatung University, and they investigated one of Chang’s chemists, surnamed Yi (易) and four assistants recruited to produce drugs at two sites in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District (大寮), the CIB said.
The CIB said that Yi was arrested along with two of the four assistants in May last year during an operation in which 31kg of illegal narcotics were also seized.
The CIB added that the two other assistants were arrested at a later date.
Prosecutors are also investigating seven suspected accomplices of Chang arrested last month, the CIB said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS