Taiwan's courts handed down long prison terms in a marijuana smuggling case that used a novel hiding place — bad news for the smuggling ring, good news for customs enforcement.

• Smugglers hid over 227 kilos of marijuana, split into nearly 500 bags, inside the hollowed-out buckets of three excavator digging attachments shipped into Taiwan.
• Keelung customs spotted something wrong with the buckets in January and tipped off investigators, who let the shipment through under surveillance to catch the receivers.
• The plan fell apart at the warehouse: the steel plate was too thick to cut open, and the man sent to collect it was arrested while still trying with an angle grinder.
• Phone records led police to a second man who helped arrange the pickup; the two got 10 years 10 months and 5 years 8 months.
• The funder, known only by a nickname, had promised one of them 300,000 NT dollars for a successful pickup and remains at large.

Outlook: With the buyers caught and the financier still missing, investigators will keep working the ring's overseas supply line, and customs will be watching heavy machinery imports more closely.