Drugs Take a Plane, The High Flight
Well I’ve read of high flyin’ drug trips, but this one takes the cake, or is the snort?
A Customs official said Friday that about 30 kg (66lb) of smuggled party drug ketamine arrived on one of the first direct cargo flights between political rivals China and Taiwan following six decades of hostile relations.
It’s a wonder the Airport Customs agents in Taipei found the popular powdered hallucinatory drug Thursday and turned it in. Pardon me for being skeptical of honesty. The powder was packed into eight boxes on a Chinese cargo plane, customs officials said. Are they sure it wasn’t nine?
“Our expectation was that direct cargo links could possibly lead to drug smuggling,” said Lin Shu-chi, deputy Taipei Customs Office head. “I can’t say this was beyond our imagination.” Yeah, well. I wonder how many got through Customs, with a bit of help?
The ketamine was worth T$930,000 or $27,000, Lin said. Not so much, as drugs go. I’ll pass, thanks. I don’t like being poor, but I do like being in control of my faculties, such as they are.
Taiwan and China opened direct cargo routes and launched daily direct passenger flights Monday for the first time since 1949 to help Taiwan investors save time and money on travel and factory shipments. Great timing.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.
The jump in trade and transit links underscore how quickly ties have warmed under the island’s pro-China President Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May on a pledge to improve cooperation with Beijing. Well, I’m glad they’ve all decided to get along, if this doesn’t throw a kink in the comradery.
A 31-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in connection with the ketamine, which was destined for a convenience store in central Taiwan, local media said. You can guess what will happen to her, if she’s even alive now.
In America, she’d be on the street again before the cops got home, but they don’t mess around with you, in China.
She may not know a thing, maybe she only knows one thing, but she’ll talk.
Recent Comments