Coast guard nabs ship loaded with illegal cigarettesBy Hung Ting-hung / Staff reporterCoast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol ships last week seized contraband cigarettes worth an estimated NT$110 million (US$3.9 million), after uncovering a smuggling operation that originated in the South China Sea, officials said yesterday. It was the first time a cigarette-smuggling operation was discovered near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), coast guard officials said. The hold of a cargo ship on March 6 is filled with Chinese-made contraband cigarettes. The ship’s Burmese captain told the coast guard that they had embarked from a port in Cambodia loaded with the cigarettes, and were headed to Taiwan, officials said. As of yesterday, the contraband cigarettes had been forwarded to the Kaohsiung City Department of Finance for assessment, the officials said.

Source: Taipei Times March 12, 2021 15:56 UTC