Two Taiwanese men and an Indonesian migrant worker were arrested after being caught red-handed smuggling NT$2 million (US$68,450) worth of illicit cigarettes off the coast of Taitung county, eastern Taiwan.
At 8:40pm on Monday, an unidentified sampan was seen arriving at the mouth of the Jia Jin Lin River in the town of Dawu, and three men were observed moving boxes wrapped in black bags onshore, the Taiwan Times reported.
Officers from the Eastern Coastal Patrol Office of the Coast Guard Administration checked out the three men at the scene.
The two Taiwanese men and an Indonesian migrant worker identified themselves as fishermen. They were in the middle of smuggling a total of 46 boxes of illicit cigarettes, with an estimated market value of NT$2 million.