The mastermind of a Taiwanese drug trafficking gang has been apprehended after Taiwanese and US law enforcement officials busted the island’s largest case of marijuana smuggling in containers.
In a press conference on 3 July, Dustin Lee of the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s (CIB) International Crimes Division said they began tracking down the gang members after the container, labelled as carrying imported furniture and bound for Keelung, Taiwan, was first intercepted by US Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection in Long Beach port in the US in early November 2022.
The US authorities, acting on a tipoff, seized and destroyed most of the marijuana, leaving just 19.5kg in the container, which continued on its voyage to Keelung, Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the US authorities passed their information to CIB so the latter could act against the Taiwanese perpetrators.
On 16 November 2022, after the container arrived in Keelung, a Taiwanese woman, 57, who had brokered the shipment, was arrested. Two other men, aged 79 and 63, who helped to transport the container to Taipei, were also arrested.
Investigations showed that the importer of the container was a 57-year-old man identified as Chen, a Taiwanese national who owned a furniture company. However, Chen fled to China after getting wind of the investigation.
Chen allegedly conspired with a 62-year-old man, surnamed Sun, a dual citizen of Taiwan and the US, to smuggle marijuana into the island. Sun, who remains detained, is said to have sourced the drug in the US before packaging it into the container.
In March, Sun was arrested at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport while waiting to catch a flight to the US. Under interrogation, Sun disclosed information about the mastermind, a Taiwanese man surnamed Kao.
Identified as the ultimate buyer of the marijuana, Kao subsequently learnt of Sun’s arrest and began moving residences in Taiwan to evade the police.
Kao’s life on the run ended on 27 June, after he was arrested during a raid in Kaohsiung.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
