Indian held for smuggling ketamine into Taiwan

Taiwan police on Thursday arrested an Indian man on suspicion of smuggling 20 kg of ketamine from Thailand into Taipei.

Roy Thoni Bhusan, 46, was detained at the Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei when he arrived on board a Thai Airways International flight from Bangkok.

He had reportedly hidden the ketamine in a large-size stainless steel water boiler in his check-in luggage. But a sniffer dog detected it.

“He told us that a man in Bangkok asked him to take the thermos boiler to someone in Taiwan, and he was not paid for doing this. This is hard to believe,” a duty officer of the airport police told the DPA.

“We will hand him over for prosecution after having questioned him,” the officer, who only gave his surname as Chen, said by phone.

Ketamine is listed as third-class drug in Taiwan.

Originally created for use as a human anaesthetic, ketamine is now widely used as a stimulant.

Bhusan could face a maximum five-year jail term in Taiwan if convicted.