NT$200 million in assets seized from dark web drug suspect detained in U.S.

Taipei, May 27 (CNA) Taipei prosecutors have seized assets worth more than NT$200 million (US$6.67 million) from a Taiwanese man who pleaded guilty in the United States in December last year to charges related to operating a drug sales platform.

The Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office has launched an investigation into Lin Rui-siang (林睿庠), seizing real estate and bank savings in Taiwan totaling over NT$200 million, according to sources familiar with the matter Tuesday.

CNA learned of the information following a report published earlier that day by Mirror Media, a Chinese-language online news outlet based in Taiwan, which detailed Lin's case.

The 24-year-old has been detained in New York since his arrest by FBI special agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport while in transit on May 18 last year.

Lin was accused of owning and operating "Incognito Market," an online dark web narcotics marketplace that enabled its users to buy and sell illegal narcotics anonymously around the world, according to a press release by U.S. authorities in May last year.

"Incognito Market" was formed in October 2020 and closed in March last year after having sold more than US$100 million worth of narcotics -- including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamines, the statement said.

In exchange for listing and selling narcotics on the platform, narcotics suppliers paid a commission of 5 percent of their sales to "Incognito Market," the statement by the U.S. Department of Justice read.

Last December, Lin pleaded guilty to three charges: narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison; money laundering, with a maximum sentence of 20 years; and conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication, which carries up to five years, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

When arrested, Lin was en route from Saint Lucia to Singapore, where he planned to enroll in a graduate program after completing his service at Taiwan's Technical Mission in the Caribbean nation, a diplomatic ally of Taiwan, Mirror Media reported Tuesday.

Lin, who specialized in information technology, was dispatched to Saint Lucia in November 2023 under Taiwan's "substitute military service program," which allows conscripts to fulfill their national service obligations by assisting with Taiwan's overseas technical and medical missions, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Mirror Media reported that, after pleading guilty, Lin identified four accomplices and revealed details about the digital financial flows involved.

As a result, the U.S. court postponed his sentencing, originally scheduled in March, until September, the report said.