2010.9.21 Banciao District Prosecutors Office Press Release

With the capture of the main suspect nicknamed "Shark", Banciao District Prosecutors Office successfully implemented MOJ's " Resentment Removal Program" and cracked down a cross-border drug trafficking plot.

The Ministry of Justice’s "Resentment Removal Program" is a series of campaign, including efficiently and effectively interdicting criminal activities such as manufacturing, selling and trafficking of illicit drugs.

To implement MOJ's "Resentment Removal Program", Head Prosecutor Yang Sih-Meng and Prosecutor Lu Chun-Chieh teamed up with law enforcement agencies from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Coast Guard Administration Maritime Patrol Directorate, Taipei County Police Bureau, and Hsinchu County Military Police to carry out the investigation.

At the early stage of the investigation, intelligence uncovered that a criminal ring led by the notorious suspect “Shark”, surnamed Chen, managed the international criminal plot in smuggling drugs from Thailand to Taiwan. Members of the crime ring frequently traveled to Thailand for the purchase of drugs, which were later hidden in agricultural products and then delivered via air. The members of the crime ring also declared the items as agricultural products and provided fictitious address and phone number in an effort to fool the customs and evade police detection.

After months of monitoring Chen’s activities, Customs intercepted Chen's parcels from Thailand and tried to reach the recipient with no success. So the Police decided to close in and search the suspects' hideouts in Taipei County (Banciao City, Zhonghe City, Tucheng City) and Kaohsiung City as well as other places in the early morning of September 21st.

Chen, along with 5 other accomplices, including Chen’s girlfriend, were subsequently arrested. A total of 6.08 kg heroin (88.8 percent pure) with a street value up to several hundred million NTD was found and seized. The heroin seized is believed to be distributed to local drugs dealers later.

The crackdown also stopped Chen’s crime ring from committing other crimes, such as refining methamphetamine for sale.