Taiwan nabs Canadian smuggling drugs disguised as tea

台灣抓獲包裝成茶葉加拿大走私毒品

20 kilos of marijuana had a street value of NT$30 million

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport arrested a Canadian found with NT$30 million (US$1 million) worth of marijuana disguised as Chinese Pu’er tea, reports said Thursday (Jan. 9).

A man of ethnic Chinese origin surnamed Wang had packaged the drugs in 20 rolls weighing slightly more than 1 kilogram each, the Liberty Times reported.

He had arrived on a flight from Canada at 5 a.m. last Dec. 28. When an X-ray check of his luggage caused suspicion, customs and airport police took a closer look. They found the 20 rolls hidden inside his clothes, with tests showing the content of the packages was not tea but marijuana.

Police let Wang head for his hotel in Taoyuan, hoping a customer would show up to take delivery of the drugs, but nobody did, the Liberty Times reported. Police suspected that a member of the gang had been on the same flight as Wang and had noticed his ruse had been found out.

While the 40-year-old Canadian had been transferred to prosecutors, the search for the smuggling ring behind his case would continue, the authorities said.