TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Investigators found NT$200 million (US$6.3 million) worth of heroin hidden in art lamps imported from Vietnam, reports said Tuesday.
The Qiaotou District Prosecutors Office in Kaohsiung received information in October about an international criminal group planning to send drugs from Vietnam to Taiwan, per CNA. The tip followed the discovery of similar cases in Vietnam and Laos.
The task force focused its attention on a parcel arriving on Oct. 23 from Vietnam. Inside, they discovered 13 designer light fixtures containing four bricks of heroin each.
The drugs weighed a combined 19.87 kilograms and were worth more than NT$200 million. Two Thai nationals waiting to pick up the drugs in Taiwan were detained and charged. At the Vietnam end of the criminal network, police arrested three suspects and found 107 kg of heroin.
The success in finding the Category 1 drugs and catching the smugglers led to public praise from Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) at a ceremony in Kaohsiung on Tuesday.
