Five detained in crackdown on cannabis growing operation in Tainan

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) Five suspects have been detained by prosecutors in Yunlin County after they were arrested during a raid on a nearly 3-hectare cannabis cultivation area in the mountains of Tainan on Monday, Yunlin County police said Wednesday.

After a seven-month investigation, a task force in charge of the case mobilized dozens of police officers and military police and launched a raid of the site at dawn on Monday, cracking down on the cannabis cultivation site and cannabis factories,members of the Yunlin County Police Bureau said at a press conference.

They confiscated 1,766 cannabis plants and cultivation and drug-making equipment, and arrested a suspect surnamed Tsai (蔡) and four other members of the suspected drug making ring, police said.

Police estimated that the market value of the cannabis plants and products seized was in excess of NT$1 billion (US$30.9 million).

After the five suspects were arrested, the case was handed over to the Yunlin District Prosecutors Office for further investigation, police said.

The prosecutors filed a motion, that was later approved Tuesday, to detain the five suspects and hold them incommunicado, according to the office.

In ordering the detention, the Yunlin District Court ruled that the suspects were believed to have committed a felony in violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act and the Organized Crime Prevention Act and were considered to be a flight risk.

Members of the county police bureau said at the press conference that they received information in May this year that Tsai and others wanted to find land to grow marijuana.

After six months of surveillance, evidence collection, and the use of various technological investigation tools, it was confirmed that the suspects had set up a greenhouse in a remote mountainous area of Tainan to grow the crop, members of the bureau said.

The Yunlin police then formed a task force with the Yujing Branch of the Tainan City Police Department and multiple military police units, and reported to the Yunlin District Prosecutors Office to direct the investigation.

That culminated in the raid on the mountain site on Monday.