Police dog sniffs out key evidence in money laundering case

Kaohsiung, July 4 (CNA) In a recent case brought to the attention of police by a tip-off, officers were able to locate key evidence and indict 12 people thanks to an electronic storage device detection dog (K9 ESD) called "Wafer," the Kaohsiung City Police Department Criminal Investigation Corps said Thursday at a press conference.

After first conducting surveillance operations, officers in March raided three sites they suspected were being used as bases for money laundering. During the raids Wafer located two mobile phones that contained crucial evidence, the police said.

After investigations, prosecutors indicted 12 people arrested in relation to the raids for money laundering.

The case involved a man surnamed Cheng (鄭) who rented premises in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County as bases to assist with transfers of illicit cash from overseas gambling websites and Ponzi scheme websites, using layers of transfers between overseas accounts to evade being traced by the authorities, according to the police.

The 39-year-old Cheng recruited another man surnamed Su (蘇), aged 34, as his manager and another 10 individuals with the promises of "high salary, low demands, no experience needed" in job advertisements. The 10 people worked shifts as customer service staff, according to investigations.

Police estimated the group laundered over 4 trillion Vietnamese Dong, which is approximately NT$5.1 billion (US$157 million), over a six month period.

A K9 ESD is trained to sniff out the chemical substance triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), which is found in electronic storage devices as such devices often contain evidence of criminal activity.

Wafer is Taiwan's first and currently only K9 ESD.