By Beh Yuen Hui

FARMVILLE, a hugely popular game on Facebook, is harmless addictive fun.

But in Taiwan, the addiction is of the dangerous kind.

Taiwan police discovered that drug dealers had been using the game to contact their customers and establish new networks.

The dealers are using secret codes in the game for their transactions.

The codes are related to the game plays which indicate the drug amount, types and transaction locations.

It is believed the drug dealers trust the method as it could prevent suspicion and help them evade conviction.

Taiwan's China Times reported that police made the discovery when they arrested a suspected drug dealer at his home last Saturday.

Two pistols and about 15gm of amphetamine were seized.

Police said the suspect, aged 28, was playing FarmVille (Chinese version) at that time.

Also addicted to the game, the suspect had established a wide network through it.

Among his Facebook friends, six people have been identified to be his customers. They communicate through the "Wall" message application.

Each type of crop represents a particular drug. For example, white radish means amphetamine.

Police said the suspect would ask his friends if they wanted to be happy and this was the code to find out if they needed any drugs.

If they wanted drugs, the suspect would ask them to get ready for a "harvest" and prepare a certain amount of "farm coins".

Upon breaking the codes, police managed to detain a runner of the suspect later.

Police were investigating the suspect's list of "farm friends."

--Daily Chilli/ANN