Taiwan, Malaysia jointly uncover heroin smuggling operation

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Police in Taiwan and Malaysia uncovered a transnational drug trafficking scheme that used mobile phone casing shipments to smuggle heroin into Taiwan, seizing 4.21 kilograms of the drug and arresting a suspect, according to Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Tuesday.

The main suspect, a man surnamed Wang (王), 41, was identified as a member of the Thento Union, a Taiwan-based international criminal organization and the seized heroin could be worth nearly NT$20 million (US$653,320) on the black market, the police said.

According to Chang Chao-hsiung (張詔雄), head of the CIB's International Criminal Affairs Division's first investigation team, law enforcement in Taiwan and Malaysia obtained intelligence on a cross-border drug group that transported narcotics.

Law enforcement personnel from Taiwan carried out an interception operation and found drugs inside the shipments, he said.

The heroin powder was hidden beneath the bottom panels of mobile phone case boxes and disguised to evade X-ray detection, with the operation using international express freight services to complete customs declarations and move the heroin into Taiwan.

Investigators identified Wang, who worked with criminals in Malaysia to carry out the smuggling operation, as the person in Taiwan responsible for transporting the drugs.

To avoid detection, the criminal gang sent the parcels to a claw machine shop in Keelung City, police said.

Wang went into hiding after the smuggling operation was exposed, but was arrested on April 30 in Zhongli District in Taoyuan, when mobile phones believed to have been used in the crime and other evidence were seized.

Wang was transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for investigation on suspicion of violating Taiwan's Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.