Nepalese weed grower gets 10.5 years after half a decade on the run

Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) A Nepalese cannabis kingpin who expanded his growing operation in Taiwan tenfold after going on the run in 2020 has been sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison.

According to an Aug. 26 Shilin District Court ruling, Chhetri Ganesh Roka was found with 291 plants worth an estimated NT$20 million (US$650,852) following police raids in Taoyuan and New Taipei.

The Nepalese national had been a fugitive from justice after failing to report for a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence, finalized in July 2020, for possession of 29 plants and five seedlings, the court said.

In January he was apprehended by the Third Special Police Corps, which raided a cannabis farm run by Mexican man Santiago Alfonso Balado Yrizar in New Taipei's Tamsui District and learned that Chhetri Ganesh Roka supplied the grow operation's plants and equipment.

The Shilin District Court found Balado Yrizar guilty of manufacturing marijuana and of using a fake license plate for his car, handing down jail sentences of 22 months and two months, respectively.

However, both sentences were suspended for five years, with the court citing Balado Yrizar's cooperation with the police by giving them information about Chhetri Ganesh Roka.

Meanwhile, Ma Yu-chieh (馬裕傑), a Taiwanese co-conspirator of Chhetri Ganesh Roka, was given 14.5 years for distribution of a Category 2 narcotic.

All of the district court's sentences are subject to appeal.