TAIPEI: Police said Friday that they recently nabbed a Taiwanese man for allegedly smuggling more than 1,000 kilograms of chloroephedrine, a substance that can be used to produce amphetamines, from China into Taiwan.
The 1,003 kg of chloroephedrine, packaged in 106 bags, could be used to produce 700 kg of amphetamines, worth about NT$200 million (US$6.12 million), the Criminal Investigation Bureau said.
The 106 bags were found following a tip-off, hidden among 700 packages of construction materials in a cargo container during an operation at Keelung Customs, said the police. The operation came after months of intelligence-gathering.
Following a later search operation, the police arrested a 22-year-old suspect surnamed Lin, who was taken to prosecutors for further investigation, while the police continued with efforts to search for the ringleader and any other accomplices.
After Lin was arrested, he insisted that he had come to take delivery of the “construction materials” for someone else. However, he was unable to provide details of the origin of the NT$10 million used to pay for the importation of the construction material shipment.
