Police in Chiayi County on Wednesday seized 13.2g of cannabis, and arrested 12 Thai nationals and an Indonesian woman following a months-long investigation into drug use among migrants.
All 13 were in Taiwan illegally, police said.
A probe was launched last year after police received a tip about use of cannabis and amphetamines by migrant workers, they said.
Photo: CNA
Five Thais were apprehended with 13.2g of cannabis, police said, adding that they told officers they had received the drugs from two Taiwanese.
Three of the five Thais have been deported, while two are in a rehab center, police said.
The two Taiwanese, who were arrested separately, told authorities that their supplier was Nasuriwong Wasan, a Thai residing illegally in Taiwan, police said.
Officers acting on the tip apprehended Wasan’s Indonesian girlfriend on a street in Yunlin County’s Yuanchang Township (元長) on Nov. 6, police said.
Officers tracked Wasan to a house in Yuanchang, where the pair were living along with 11 other undocumented Thai workers, police said.
While no controlled substances were found at the residence, Wasan told investigators that he had been selling drugs in Taiwan for the past two years, police said.
Prosecutors are investigating Wasan for alleged contraventions of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), police said.
The other 12 who were apprehended are awaiting deportation and have been detained at the National Immigration Agency’s Chiayi County Service Center, police added.
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