{"id":216178,"date":"2015-12-08T06:06:23","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T20:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=216178"},"modified":"2015-12-08T06:06:23","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T20:06:23","slug":"850k-worth-of-ice-seized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/850k-worth-of-ice-seized\/","title":{"rendered":"$850K worth of \u2018ice\u2019 seized"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>
From left, Customs deputy director Maj. Greg Sablan, Customs director Jose Mafnas, and Customs port manager Lt. Marvin Sablan hold up a photo of their most recent \u201cice\u201d bust, weighing 4.9 lbs and worth an estimated $850,000 in street value. (Dennis B. Chan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nOn Dec. 2, during a routine inspection at the Port of Saipan, a 40-foot container from Guangzhou, China, was selected by the CNMI Divisions of Customs for 100 percent inspection. The container had several consignees and was brought in by Sunleader, a cargo consolidating company. One of the consignees had brought in nine 5-gallon paint containers, which were inspected by Customs officers. One container was opened to reveal thick paint and a strong putrid odor. As the officers continued to probe the paint, an officer noticed a black plastic bag inside, making him suspicious. After the officers removed the hardened paint inside the container, three black plastic bags were revealed.<\/p>\n

The content of the bags were field-tested and found presumptive positive for methamphetamines, or \u201cice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The total weight was 4.9 lbs. The estimated street value is $850,000.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the finding, Customs alerted their law enforcement partners, which include the Department of Public Safety, the Drug Enforcement Agency task force, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Homeland Security Investigations unit, U.S. Marshals, and the CNMI Attorney General Investigative Unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of this operation, three Chinese nationals were arrested,\u201d Customs director Jose Mafnas told Saipan Tribune yesterday, after relaying the story of the CNMI\u2019s most recent ice bust.<\/p>\n

The ice bust comes just five months after 23 lbs of ice was seized by Customs in July, the biggest bust in CNMI history.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a total of 28 lbs of ice worth over $5 million in value within a five-month period, said Mafnas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes to tell us if there is a will, there are those who are going to make every effort to smuggle\u2026We still have to be vigilant, protecting our borders,\u201d said Major. Greg Sablan, deputy director of Customs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is that 28 lbs [of ice] did not go out and affect our community,\u201d Mafnas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce it gets out on the streets, you can imagine the destruction it will impose on the community, the friends, families that are addicted to it,\u201d added Sablan.<\/p>\n

Sablan commended Customs staff yesterday for their vigilance in protecting the CNMI\u2019s borders. \u201cWe want to give the public assurance that\u2014even if we are underpaid and with limited resources\u2014we will continue to be vigilant to protect our borders and protect our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am optimistic in the end we are going to win this war,\u201d added Mafnas.<\/p>\n

Acting governor Ralph LG Torres welcomed the news in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time the vigilant men and women at the Division of Customs prevent crystal methamphetamine from reaching our shores, we move one step closer to winning the War on Ice. \u2026The men and women of Customs and all our enforcement entities have the full support they need to fight this war. I want to thank Director Mafnas and his team for being at the frontline of this war and continuing to prevent this drug from reaching our community at its source,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

Ice task force<\/p>\n

The arrests of the three Chinese national were also coincidentally made while law enforcement officials and other agencies met for the first time at an interagency \u201cWar on Ice\u201d task force during an inaugural meeting on Capital Hill last Friday, the Customs officials said.<\/p>\n

The ice task force has announced plans to strengthen CNMI laws on asset seizures, to seize not only money but also other possessions like vehicles, accounts, and land.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we take away those tools for them to continue their business then that\u2019s one way\u201d to get them to pick up their business and go elsewhere, said Sablan.<\/p>\n

Policy makers are planning to make seizure laws more stringent. That, and possibly lengthening jail terms for ice dealers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLonger jail terms, no probation, no parole,\u201d said Sablan. \u201cIf you are found guilty and convicted to serve 20 years, we want you to serve that 20 years concurrent.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, he said, would serve as a deterrent to prevent others from dealing with this type of illegal narcotic or drug.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026If you do the crime you will do the time,\u201d Sablan said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it where people are incarcerated, they get out of jail and they go back to the same thing again. We want to send out a strong message.\u201d<\/p>\n

New equipment<\/p>\n

The RFP also closed recently for new x-ray machines at the airport and seaport.<\/p>\n

A vendor has been selected, with Customs now processing two x-ray machines for the airport and seaport.<\/p>\n

For a handheld x-ray scanner, Customs is working directly with a vendor out Boston, Massachusetts, after there were no interests for the service in the RFP, said Mafnas.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, drug dealers are one step, two steps ahead of us. Once we have the equipment available\u2014the x-ray machines\u2014it will speed up the process and hopefully lead to more interceptions,\u201d added Sablan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Dec. 2, during a routine inspection at the Port of Saipan, a 40-foot container…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":216181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[56,26,2465,8406],"class_list":["post-216178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-business-3","tag-cnmi","tag-homeland-security-investigations","tag-jose-mafnas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}