Fisherman finds 43-kg bag of marijuana on New Taipei shoreline

Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) An angler in New Taipei's Yehliu village came back with a fisherman's tale on Tuesday after discovering a 43-kilogram bag of marijuana washed up on shore.

According to the New Taipei City Police Department's Jinshan Precinct, the man, who was not identified, discovered the burlap bag at 8:35 a.m. Tuesday while fishing near Camel's Hump Rock, off of Dong'ao Road.

He said he had previously seen the bag floating off the shoreline several days earlier.

Upon opening the bag and looking inside, the man knew it was something suspicious and reported it to the police, the precinct said.

Police officers who arrived at the scene conducted a rapid drug test, which confirmed that the bag contained marijuana, a category 2 drug under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.

The drugs, weighing 43 kilograms in total, were wrapped in 32 separate bags and had an estimated street value of around NT$20 million (US$635,432) in Taiwan, the precinct said.

Police said they had asked the Coast Guard and other relevant agencies for help investigating the case, but warned that the lack of security cameras in the area could make it difficult to determine the drugs' source.