7 Arrested for Smuggling 7kg of Heroin Hidden in Miniature Model Bases

(CNA, Reporter Hung Hsueh-kuang, Kaohsiung, 21st) The Criminal Investigation Bureau's (CIB) Southern Taiwan Crime Combat Center has busted a transnational drug trafficking case. A wanted fugitive surnamed Ke, hiding in Cambodia, masterminded the operation, concealing over 7 kilograms of heroin within the corrugated cardboard bases of miniature models and shipping them from Thailand to Taiwan. Police traced the network layer by layer, arresting seven individuals. According to a press release today from the CIB's Southern Center, police recently received a tip about a suspicious package from Thailand potentially containing narcotics. In a joint inspection with the Customs Administration's Taipei Customs, they discovered heroin, with a gross weight of 7,190 grams, hidden inside the hollow corrugated board of a miniature model's base. Police immediately reported the case to the Taiwan Tainan District Prosecutors Office for command and formed a special task force with Tainan and Taoyuan city police to expand the investigation. The task force's investigation revealed that the head of this transnational drug trafficking group is a wanted fugitive, Mr. Ke, who fled overseas. Ke remotely controlled the operation from Cambodia, instructing members to fill the extremely narrow gaps in the corrugated boards with heroin powder, hide them in the miniature model bases, and finally ship the package from Thailand to Taiwan in an attempt to get past customs. Police stated that to evade detection, the group frequently crossed administrative districts during the delivery process to create dead ends. After the first-layer recipient signed for the package in Tainan City, the goods were first hidden in a rented apartment and then transferred to a second-layer accomplice's residence. Subsequently, third-layer suspects, surnamed Chen and Li, transported it to Kaohsiung City. Surveillance by the task force found that the fifth-layer owner of the goods, a man surnamed Chen, traveled to Tainan to monitor the transfer status after learning the package had arrived in Kaohsiung. After confirming there was no police tail, he instructed a fourth-layer suspect, surnamed Chiu, to transport the goods back to Tainan. Finally, Chen drove the package north to a townhouse in Zhongli District, Taoyuan City. Seeing the time was ripe, the task force launched a raid in Taoyuan City, arresting Chen and another person on the spot as they were unpacking the package. Subsequently, between January 10 and 13 this year, after a six-layer pursuit, a total of seven suspects, including Chen, were apprehended. Following questioning, the entire case was transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act. (Editor: Lung Po-an)