10 detained as Taiwan busts biggest marijuana smuggling case

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) Ten seamen have been detained on suspicion of smuggling 1.3-metric tons of marijuana earlier this month, the largest drug haul of its kind in Taiwan, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office said in a statement issued Friday.

The marijuana seized had a street value of NT$3.5 billion (US$114.2 million), prosecutors said, adding that the illegal operation was interdicted from Dec. 9-12 in the northwest waters off Kaohsiung, where five unmanned rafts being used to shuttle drugs from a Mongolian oil tanker were seized.

According to prosecutors, they worked with the Coast Guard Administration and multiple police departments across Taiwan to intercept the first unmanned raft, registered in Tainan, on Dec. 10, which was carrying four bags of marijuana that totaled 221.7 kilograms.

The next day, the taskforce again seized four similar rafts drifting in the same area, carrying 1,159.3 kg of marijuana in 20 bags with the same packaging as the previous haul.

The evidences enabled the squad to track down the tanker, which is believed to have transported the marijuana, near Kaohsiung's Xingda Port, prosecutors said.

At the request of prosecutors, the Taiwan Ciaotou District Court ordered the detention of all 10 suspects -- the tanker's Taiwanese owner, surnamed Huang (黃), two Taiwanese seamen and seven Burmese fishermen -- for allegedly violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.

According to prosecutors, the marijuana seized in the operation-- which is listed as a Category 2 drug in Taiwan -- could be turned into 2.8 million cigarettes.