Taipei prosecutors have broken up a drug ring that tricked two lovestruck men into handling a huge cannabis shipment — bad news for the gang, and a lucky escape for the two men, who walked free.

• A Bamboo Union member nicknamed "Da Tian" ran the operation, hiding 20 kilos of cannabis worth about NT$52 million inside four hollowed-out mattresses shipped from Vancouver.
• To keep his own people away from the delivery, he used one stolen photo of an attractive woman to romance a young volunteer soldier in Pingtung and a 46-year-old air-conditioning worker in New Taipei.
• Both men were asked only to receive and store "sample goods" for a friend traveling abroad — no money changed hands, so they never suspected anything.
• Police tailed the mattresses as they moved north to a parking lot, then a motel, and arrested the ring when members finally showed up to cut the drugs out.
• Chat records showed the soldier was so sincere he apologized and broke things off after admitting he had a girlfriend; prosecutors dropped all charges against both men.

Outlook: Five suspects, including the ringleader, face trafficking and organized crime charges carrying up to life in prison, and investigators are still hunting for other accomplices.