TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Malaysian police uncovered at least 10 cases of drug mules traveling to Taiwan from January 2025 to March 2026, reports said Tuesday.
Singapore recorded the highest number of arrests involving drug mules from Malaysia with 13, followed by Indonesia with 12 and Taiwan with 10, Federal Narcotics Crime Investigation Department Director Hussein Omar Khan told the New Straits Times. The schemes involved 17 countries, most of them in East Asia but also in the Middle East and Europe, per CNA.
Malaysia reported 191 nationals arrested overseas for allegedly working as drug mules since 2023, including 77 over the past two years. Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice said 192 Malaysians had been detained for fraud and 118 for drug offenses over the past decade.
Several cases involving Malaysian drug mules were uncovered through cooperation with Malaysia, according to the Criminal Investigation Bureau. In a recent case, a woman brought in 4 kilograms of heroin hidden inside biscuit tins.
Acting on information from their colleagues in Malaysia, police in Taipei arrested her, another suspect, and the person who took delivery of the drugs.
Khan said criminal groups used offers of free travel and high-paying overseas jobs to recruit drug mules from vulnerable populations. They advertised the misleading offers on social media and communication apps targeting students, jobseekers, and people with unstable incomes, he said.
