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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS