A drug ring hid more than 227 kilos of cannabis inside hollowed-out excavator buckets shipped from the US, and both men caught receiving it got heavy prison terms.

• Customs officers in Keelung spotted three suspicious excavator buckets declared as imports from the US in January.
• The buckets had been carved out and packed with 494 bags of cannabis, then shipped to a warehouse in Taoyuan.
• The receiver was arrested at the warehouse after failing to cut the steel bucket open with a grinder.
• His phone led investigators to the middleman who arranged the pickup, and a third man who funded the operation is known only by a nickname.
• The Keelung court handed down sentences of 10 years 10 months and 5 years 8 months for jointly transporting a Category 2 drug.

Outlook: Both sentences can still be appealed, and the financier behind the ring remains at large.