A Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp captain was arrested on Friday night on suspicion of narcotics smuggling following his arrest aboard a container ship docked at Kaohsiung Harbor a day earlier, local authorities said yesterday.

The captain surnamed Yu (尤) was detained for questioning after customs officials discovered a large cache of heroin during a shipboard inspection of the Yang Ming Horizon operated by Yang Ming Marine, Taiwan’s second-largest shipping line, when it arrived in Kaohsiung on Thursday, sources said.

The Yang Ming Horizon departed from Hai Phong Port, Vietnam, early on Sunday last week. Its itinerary listed a stop in Hong Kong before sailing to Kaohsiung, sources said.

However, the vessel unexpectedly altered its route, skipping Hong Kong and sailing directly from Vietnam to Kaohsiung, where it docked late on Thursday night.

Customs officers boarded the ship for inspection at Kaohsiung and discovered dozens of bricks of heroin inside the cargo hold, sources said, adding that the drugs were not only fully packaged and of exceptionally high purity, but also included loose heroin wrapped in oil-paper bags as well as white powder narcotics.

Kaohsiung prosecutors interrogated Yu and requested that the district court issue a warrant to arrest him, which was granted on Friday night, according to the sources.

The task force said that maritime drug smuggling in the past has typically involved older cargo ships.

Cases implicating a globally

recognized shipping company such as Yang Ming Marine are extremely rare, they said, adding that authorities will continue to investigate whether internal management lapses within the shipping company were involved and to determine whether other personnel or a larger transnational drug trafficking network might be connected to the case.

The company said in a statement yesterday that the Coast Guard Administration and the Investigation Bureau were alerted to the suspected smuggling by the vessel’s ship security officer immediately after the contraband was discovered.

According to the company, the ship security officer received a

tip-off from crew members regarding the suspicious goods delivered to the vessel while it was berthed at an undisclosed port; Chinese-language media identified the location as Vietnam.

The shipping company said it has submitted all recorded CCTV footage and relevant logs to prosecutors for investigation, adding that no other crew members were involved in the case.
Source: Taipei Times, CNA