High Court upholds, reduces sentences for 2 drug offenders from Penghu

Kaohsiung, Jan. 7 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court has ruled on the case of two men who transported narcotics by car, plane and ferry in January last year, upholding the sentence handed down to one defendant while slightly reducing the sentence of the other.

The High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court ruled on Tuesday that a defendant surnamed Hsu (許) shall serve the seven-year-and-two-month sentence handed down by a lower court, while a second defendant surnamed Chuang (莊) had his six-year-and-two-month sentence reduced to six years.

The high court's judgment, prompted by appeals from the defendants in the case, followed a ruling by the Penghu District Court on June 26 last year.

The high court said that a detailed ruling would be published in due course. The case can still be appealed.

Hsu and Chuang were found guilty of category II narcotics offenses under Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.

Police discovered around 572 grams of amphetamines along with electric measuring scales and a packaging sealing machine when they conducted searches of Hsu's residence and vehicle on Jan. 6, 2024.

They also found 15 "coffee bags" weighing around 57 grams in total that contained narcotics.

After being questioned by investigators, Hsu and Chuang were formally taken into investigative detention on Jan. 8.

The Penghu District Prosecutors Office indicted Hsu and Chuang on March 4, while the case of a third suspect, a minor surnamed Lu (呂), was transferred to the juvenile court division for a separate trial.

According to the district court, on Jan. 4, Hsu and Lu flew from Taiwan's island county of Penghu to Kaohsiung to meet up with Chuang, who had taken Hsu's car to the southern city on the Penghu Ferry.

The three then drove to New Taipei on the same day and stayed the night at a motel in the northern city's Linkou District.

On Jan. 5, Hsu purchased more than 500 grams of amphetamines and around 50 grams of ketamine. Afterwards, Hsu and Lu flew back to Penghu with some of the narcotics, while Chuang drove the rest back to Kaohsiung before taking the car ferry back to Penghu, the court ruled.

Police learned about the plan to purchase and illegally transport the narcotics because they had been monitoring Hsu's phone, court documents showed.

Hsu, who financed the drug purchase, had been a suspect in multiple previous drug investigations, the court said.