Special Report by Rti Reporter James Thompson

The Jump

The fishing boat did not immediately stop. It was around 2 a.m. on December 3, 2025, in waters off southwestern Taiwan, and authorities were closing in on a vessel investigators believed was carrying a major shipment of illegal drugs.

Warning shots were fired into the air, prompting it to slow down, and the Coast Guard patrol boat was able to draw nearer. But boarding would not be easy: Typhoon Fung-wong had made landfall in southern Taiwan the month before, and waters were rough.

Footage provided to Rti by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) shows the perilous moment when coast guard officers leaped aboard, as the vessels rose and fell sharply against each other on tempestuous waves.

“It’s an extremely dangerous action,” MJIB Drug Enforcement Division Section Chief Li Jia-ning (李家甯) told Rti in an exclusive interview this month.

“If the boat pulls away, you will fall into the sea,” Li said, adding that misjudged timing had led to broken legs before. “If you hesitate a moment and don’t jump immediately, the situation will be different.”

Upon boarding, the coast guard team controlled the crew – a Taiwanese captain and seven foreigners – and took command of the vessel, according to Li’s narrative, enabling law enforcement officers to look for contraband.

The Catch

An initial search of the deck and cabin areas found no narcotics on the vessel, an approximately 65-ton fishing boat named “Tian Fa Tsair No. 38.” But investigators were expecting a big catch, thanks to intelligence gathered during a more than two-year investigation.

Sure enough, officers discovered 281.2 kilograms of heroin and 353.6 kilograms of ketamine concealed under frozen fish bait in the ship’s hold, according to the bureau.

It was a “huge quantity of drugs” with a market value exceeding NT$10 billion (US$310 million), Li told Rti, and confiscating the shipment was “equivalent to cutting off more than half of nearly a whole year’s worth of drug use,” or around 13 million doses of heroin and ketamine.

“The amount [of heroin] seized this time was the largest in Taiwan in nearly five years,” Li said, adding that the operation would have dealt a serious blow to the criminal organizations involved.

This success was the result of investigative work involving multiple agencies, including the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The drug haul was displayed, under armed guard, at a news conference in June this year, where the 740 bricks of heroin and 340 packages of ketamine were laid out on a long table for the media to photograph.

Speaking at the event, Taiwan’s Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) applauded the agencies involved, and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said that the seizure was “not the result of luck, but the result of endless hours of hard work and investigative commitment.”

The Hunt

The investigation began in November 2023, when a separate transborder ketamine smuggling case became the starting point for tracing individuals connected to a broader criminal network.

Li said that after more than a year of surveillance and evidence collection, the bureau made a breakthrough in May 2025. Investigators reported the case to the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office and shared intelligence with the DEA.

This case was unusual in that a regular fishing boat was involved.

“If people we were monitoring recently bought a new boat, then we would know they were preparing to transport drugs,” Li told Rti. “But what was different this time was that this boat was already being used by them for fishing. So it was very hard for us to judge which trip would be the one.”

One clue leading investigators to believe a smuggling operation was imminent was that the suspects changed their patterns of behavior.

“They went to many temples to worship,” Li told Rti. “When they usually go fishing, they do not go to worship this often… so we knew they were preparing to do something bad.”

According to the indictment issued by the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office in March this year, the alleged drug run had begun taking shape weeks before the fishing boat left port.

Suspects discussed the shipment over messaging software on November 12, prosecutors allege, reaching an agreement involving a NT$6 million (US$186,000) upfront payment.

By November 27, the captain – identified in the indictment by his surname, Hsu (許) – had received key instructions: The handover would take place around 3 p.m. on December 2, at coordinates near 21 degrees north latitude and 119 degrees east longitude. Two days later, at around 2:40 p.m., the Tian Fa Tsair No. 38 left Donggang Fishing Port in Pingtung County.

Once at sea, prosecutors allege, the boat was prepared for something other than fishing. A camera facing the freezer hold was covered with a glove, and crew members were instructed to clear the space where the drugs were to be hidden.

The rendezvous happened as planned outside Taiwan’s territorial waters but within its economic zone. To initiate the transfer, the captain allegedly handed a NT$100 banknote to someone on the mother ship, a move Li said was related to its unique serial number.

“When they reached an agreement with the drug-manufacturing side, they would take out one banknote and tell them: Next time we hand over the goods, this banknote will be used as the basis,” Li said, likening the banknote to a “receipt” the suppliers would use to prove to their boss that the handover had taken place.

After receiving 23 sacks containing the drugs, the indictment alleges, the boat began heading back toward Taiwan the same evening, but was intercepted the following day.

The Aftermath

The case is now before the Pingtung District Court. Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for three Taiwanese defendants: fishing boat captain Hsu and two others separately accused of arranging the vessel and payments, who were later arrested.

The Pingtung District Prosecutors Office also asked for “appropriate sentences” for the seven foreign crew members – one Filipino and six Indonesian nationals – whom they described as lower-level participants acting under the captain’s direction.

Prosecutor Justin Lai (賴帝安), who is leading the case, told Rti in an interview last month that the major challenge for his team is proving the foreign crew members’ criminal intent. The indictment alleges they helped conceal the drugs but received no additional compensation beyond their regular salaries.

Despite this, Lai said the prosecution has “very strong confidence” the defendants will be found guilty.

As for the drug manufacturers and suppliers, the investigation is ongoing. Two more Taiwanese suspects wanted in connection to the case also remain at large.

Beyond the courtroom, the case also points to a relay-style trafficking model for illegal narcotic imports to Taiwan.

In the past, Taiwanese boats might sail directly to ports in countries such as Thailand to pick up drugs, Li said. Now, traffickers may send vessels into the South China Sea area to hand over narcotics ship to ship.

“Taiwan’s investigation can only focus on the part involving the transportation of drugs to Taiwan or their subsequent sale,” Li said, adding that international cooperation is needed to obtain intelligence from places beyond Taiwan’s jurisdiction.

For the Investigation Bureau, a central objective was intercepting the cargo before it reached Taiwan’s shores.

“We successfully stopped this large quantity of drugs from poisoning our country and our people,” Li said.