Kaohsiung: A Polish national has been sentenced to 17 years and eight months in prison for drug smuggling after he swallowed 105 capsules containing over one kilogram of heroin and flew to Taiwan late last year.

According to Focus Taiwan, a verdict handed down by the Kaohsiung District Court on Monday revealed that the man, surnamed Sikora, arranged with an unknown man in Laos last October to smuggle heroin to Taiwan in return for a payment of US$300. Sikora received the capsules containing the drugs at a hotel in Laos on October 27th and swallowed them half an hour before boarding a plane for Kaohsiung International Airport the following day.

Although Sikora successfully passed through immigration and checked into a hotel in Kaohsiung, officials from the Coast Guard's Investigation Branch "obtained information" leading to his arrest the following day. Sikora was subsequently taken to an area hospital, where he passed the 105 capsules in his feces. The capsules were found to contain 89.66-percent pure heroin, weighing a total of 1.04 kilograms.

During his trial, Sikora admitted to acting as a drug mule but claimed that years ago, at a tattoo parlor in the Netherlands, a man had threatened to harm his family if he did not help smuggle drugs. However, the court determined that the story was likely fabricated, as the alleged threat occurred years ago in another country, and Sikora did not report it to police.

The court noted the threat heroin poses to public health and stated that Sikora had agreed to smuggle drugs into Taiwan despite knowing the serious legal consequences. However, it acknowledged that Sikora cooperated with investigators, admitted his crime, and none of the drugs he smuggled ultimately reached the market.

On these grounds, the court sentenced Sikora to 17 years and eight months in prison for smuggling a Category 1 narcotic. The verdict is subject to appeal.