Three Minnesota women caught with $3M of opium in luggage
Federal authorities caught three Minnesota women with 70 pounds of opium concealed in bags of tea leaves at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after they landed from Narita, Japan on Tuesday.
Chicago police identified the women as Pa Yang, 57, of St. Paul, Mai Vue Vang, 58, of St. Paul, and True Thao, 52, of Brooklyn Center. The women are U.S. citizens who each face felony drug charges.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection found 470 packets of the brown, powdery substance in the women's luggage. The total weight was about 31 kilograms and has an estimated street value of $3 million, according to Chicago police.
The incident follows at least two others where travelers from Laos and Japan were caught at Midwest airports with heroin.
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In March, customs seized 30 pounds of opium from a 35-year-old woman arriving from Laos via Tokyo at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
In February, another passenger brought back 30 pounds of opium from Tokyo and was arrested at O'Hare.
"They try to conceal it a little bit differently," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Kris Grogan. "The Minneapolis seizure back in March was more into a powdered drink mix that was hidden."
Grogan says it's hard to tell if the incidents show a pattern.
"We see a multitude of things every single day," he said.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the incidents to see if they were at all related.