Scheme to smuggle marijuana hidden inside mattresses busted by CIB

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Monday shared details of a recent drug bust in which a man was caught trying to import mattresses from the United States containing 117 kilograms of marijuana.

At a press briefing, Chi Yen-hsi (紀延熹), head of the CIB's Third Criminal Investigation Division, said the agency was contacted last June about suspicious items on a cargo ship that had arrived in Kaohsiung Port.

After contacting Kaohsiung police and the Third Special Police Corps, officers went to inspect the shipment, where they seized 117 kilograms of compressed cannabis bricks hidden inside three mattresses that had been shipped from Los Angeles in the U.S., Chi said.

The drugs had an estimated street value in Taiwan of NT$175.5 million (US$5.34 million), Chi said.

Chi said officers tracked the mattresses as they were transported by truck to a storefront in Taichung. From there, they were unloaded and taken by a moving company to the Taoyuan home of the shipment's listed recipient, a 34-year-old man surnamed Wu (吳).

After paying the unsuspecting moving company, Wu disassembled the mattresses in his home and found that the drugs had disappeared.

At that moment, officers burst into the home to arrest Wu, while also finding multiple hiking backpacks inside, which they surmised would have been used to divide and distribute the drugs, Chi said.

According to police sources, Wu had previous criminal convictions for fraud and money laundering and had been released from jail in late 2023. Wu was likely introduced to the drug gang behind the attempted smuggling by a friend in prison.

During interrogation, Wu said he had only returned to crime in order to pay off personal debts. He also said he had never met the individuals behind the smuggling plot, having only communicated with them via Line and Telegram.

Even the NT$160,000 in funds for importing and transporting the mattresses was left for him anonymously, hidden behind a garbage can in the parking lot of a park, Wu said.

Because the criminal gang used "dead drops" and other techniques to avoid detection, authorities were not immediately able to bust the leaders of the ring, though the investigation remains open, Chi said.

Wu, meanwhile, was turned over to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office, which received court approval to hold him in incommunicado detention.

Wu was indicted by prosecutors on Nov. 7 for violations of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, Chi said.