Taipei, April 17 (CNA) About 250 kilograms of amphetamine and 7,000kg of semi-finished product for the production of illicit drugs, estimated at street value of NT$3 billion (US$104.1 million), were seized in New Taipei during a joint police operation Monday, making it the largest haul of illegal drugs ever seized in Taiwan, Taipei police reported Tuesday.

Meanwhile, two people were arrested on suspicion of illicitly manufacturing the drugs, according to Taipei City Police Department, which also indicated the investigation is ongoing.

After receiving intelligence from Pingtung County police, a special task force made up of police officers from Taipei, Pingtung and New Taipei, in collaboration with prosecutors from Pingtung and New Taipei, launched an investigation that focused on a corrugated sheet metal structure in Tucheng, New Taipei, where it was suspected amphetamine was being illegally manufactured, said Huang Ren-jian (黃壬鍵), chief of the anti-drug center under the Taipei Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division.

After a two-month investigation and evidence that raw materials for manufacturing of the illicit drugs were delivered to the address, law enforcement authorities raided the premises Monday, leading to the arrest of the two suspects, the large haul of finished and semi-finished amphetamine products, and the confiscation of manufacturing equipment, according to Huang.

Police said the estimated 7,000kg of semi-finished products could have been used to manufacture about 3,000kg of amphetamine products.

(By Huang Li-yun and Evelyn Kao)
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