Tulsa World: Agents seize 36 pounds of opium; two Jay men held

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Agents seize 36 pounds of opium; two Jay men held

Xue Yang, 32 (right), and Wang Chong Khang (left), 25, both of Jay

By SHEILA STOGSDILL World Correspondent
Published: 11/18/2009 2:16 PM
Last Modified: 11/18/2009 6:34 PM

JAY — Two Delaware County men are in jail on $1 million bail after federal agents in Texas seized 36 pounds of opium bound for Oklahoma, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Xue Yang, 32, and Wang Chong Khang, 25, both of Jay, were charged Wednesday in Delaware County District Court with endeavoring to distribute a controlled substance.

Yang has connections in California and Khang in Thailand and are considered flight risks, said Bryce Lair, assistant district attorney.

Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted a package in Dallas on Nov. 10 that had been sent from Laos. Its destination was Colcord, a small community south of Jay near the Arkansas border.

The package contained mushrooms, and inside the mushrooms agents found opium wrapped in plastic, according to an arrest affidavit signed by Mike Eason, district attorney investigator.

The box was labeled “EMS Lao Express — Contents: Dry Mushrooms, value $10,” Lair said. “The mushrooms were not hallucinogenic mushrooms — they were masking the opium,” Lair said.

Agents repacked the box with a tracking device and a “representative sample” of the opium weighing 1.48 kilograms or just over three pounds. The package was delivered to the Colcord Post Office and picked up by Khang on Tuesday afternoon, the affidavit states. Khang signed for the package with the fictitious name “Pau Lee” and left the post office in a van driven by Yang, the affidavit states.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Delaware County Drug Task Force followed the van and took the pair into custody on a rural Delaware County road. The package had been partially opened, the affidavit states.

Although agents seized 36 pounds of opium, further analysis suggests the “pure opium” weighed about 13 pounds, Lair said.

“The street value of either 36 pounds or 13 pounds is around $1.1 million,” said Mark Woodward, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs spokesman. “To our knowledge this is the largest seizure of pure opium in the state.

“It would surprise me to learn this (opium) was destined to stay in Oklahoma,” Woodward said.

It is not uncommon for Mexican and Asian drug cartels to use Oklahoma as a stopping point in the nationwide transport of drugs because of the state’s highway system, he said.

Opium is processed to produce heroin, Woodward said. While heroin is a problem in Oklahoma, it ranks low in popularity, he said. By SHEILA STOGSDILL World Correspondent

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Feds nab two, seize 36 pounds of opium," which was published on 11/19/2009. So far, 68 comments have been made.