Coast guard intercepts ‘zombie’ drug

• By Hollie Younger and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writers, with CNA

The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it seized 7.46kg of the Category 3 drug etomidate smuggled from China.

The amount could be used to make 85,000 vials of “zombie vapes” for e-cigarettes, the Miaoli Reconnaissance Brigade of the coast guard’s Investigation Branch said.

“Zombie vapes” containing the short-lived anesthetic cause uncontrollable shaking, and loss of cognitive function and bodily control in the user, brigade Deputy Captain Hsu Li-chuan (徐麗娟) said, adding that the drug began circulating in Taiwan last year.

Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration Investigation Branch

The shipment was intercepted and prevented from reaching the streets, Hsu added.

The brigade received a tip-off about the shipment a few days ago and built a task force with the Keelung Second Investigation Branch to investigate, she said.

During raids in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) and New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), investigators seized more than 7kg of etomidate, 72 e-cigarettes and 4,970 vials of vaping cartridges containing the drug, the brigade said.

Officials arrested two people suspected of smuggling the drug, a 40-year-old surnamed Hsieh (謝) and a 41-year-old surnamed Yeh (葉) living in Jhunan, it said.

The pair held large quantities of etomidate in a Banciao warehouse and were arrested while apparently attempting to smuggle the tainted e-cigarettes, it said.

In a separate case from mid-July, a man surnamed Huang (黃) was arrested for crashing into a police car at high speed, killing an officer and injuring another.

Huang had admitted to using the “zombie drug.”

The Executive Yuan classified etomidate as a Category 3 drug on Aug. 5.

Additional reporting by Tsai Cheng-min