The High Court has ruled on the case of two men who transported narcotics by car, plane and ferry in January last year, upholding the sentence handed down by a lower court to one defendant, while slightly reducing the sentence of the other.
The High Court’s Kaohsiung branch ruled on Tuesday that a defendant surnamed Hsu (許) must serve the seven-year-and-two-month sentence handed down by a lower court, while a second defendant surnamed Chuang (莊) had his six-year-and-two-month sentence reduced to six years.
The High Court’s judgement, prompted by appeals from the defendants, followed a ruling by the Penghu District Court on June 26 last year.
Photo: Taipei Times
The High Court said that a detailed ruling would be published in due course.
The case can still be appealed.
Hsu and Chuang were found guilty of category II narcotics offenses under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例).
Police discovered around 572g of amphetamines, along with electric measuring scales and a packaging sealing machine, when they conducted searches of Hsu’s residence and vehicle on Jan. 6 last year.
They also found 15 “coffee bags” weighing about 57g in total that contained narcotics.
After being questioned by investigators, Hsu and Chuang were formally taken into investigative detention on Jan. 8 last year.
The Penghu District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Hsu and Chuang on March 4, while the case of a third suspect, a minor surnamed Lu (呂), was transferred to the juvenile court division for a separate trial.
According to the district court, on Jan. 4 last year, Hsu and Lu flew from the island county of Penghu to Kaohsiung to meet up with Chuang, who had taken Hsu’s car to the southern city on the Penghu Ferry.
The three then drove to New Taipei City on the same day and stayed the night at a motel in Linkou District (林口).
The next day, Hsu purchased more than 500g of amphetamines and about 50g of ketamine.
Afterwards, Hsu and Lu flew back to Penghu with some of the narcotics, while Chuang drove the rest back to Kaohsiung, before taking the car ferry back to Penghu, the court said.
Police learned about the plan to purchase and illegally transport the narcotics, because they had been monitoring Hsu’s phone, court documents showed.
Hsu, who financed the drug purchase, had been a suspect in multiple previous drug investigations, the court said.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS