FBIS4-26323
"drchi119_v_94021"
FBIS-CHI-94-119
Daily Report
20 Jun 1994
TAIWAN
International Drug Trafficking Ring Cracked
International Drug Trafficking Ring Cracked
OW2006142194 Taipei CNA in English 1319 GMT 20 Jun 94
OW2006142194
Taipei CNA
English
BFN
[By Debbie Kuo]
[Text] Taipei, June 20 (CNA) -- The Investigation Bureau
announced Monday [20 June] that an international
drug-trafficking ring involving both Japanese and Taiwanese was
cracked Sunday, with more than 150 kilograms of amphetamines
being seized.
Five Japanese, including an underground gang member and four
fishing boat crewmembers, were arrested Sunday while trying to
smuggle the 151 kilograms of high-grade amphetamines through
Kagoshima port in Kyushu, Japan. Simultaneously, four
Taiwanese, including two traffickers and two dealers, were
apprehended in Taiwan, Wang Hua-fu, a spokesman for the bureau's
Taipei headquarters, said.
Wang said bureau officials had teamed with Japanese police
for three months in trying to crack the drug ring, which bought
amphetamines in Mainland China and then smuggled the shipments
to Japan via Taiwanese and Japanese fishing boats. According to
Wang, the ring, which was supported by Japanese organized crime
syndicates, had smuggled several metric tons of amphetamines
from Mainland China to Japan over the last eight years.
Amphetamines have become a popular drug among the middle and
lower classes in Japan, and prices for it have been surpassing
that of heroin. The amphetamines seized Sunday have a street
value of US$55.55 million [words indistinct].
This was the biggest anti-drug-smuggling operation mounted
by
Taiwan since a national anti-drug conference was held here
earlier this month.