DIVISION of Customs and Biosecurity officers seized 10 pounds or 4,535.92 grams of liquid methamphetamine after inspecting two packages that contained four lava lamps each at the U.S. Post Office in Chalan Kanoa.
The liquid meth has a street value of over $1.8 million, Customs Director Jose C. Mafnas said in a media conference on Thursday.
“On Sept 23, during a routine customs inspection at the Chalan Kanoa post office, a package caught the attention of a customs officer…. It contained four lava lamps and he got concerned when he noticed the liquid.”
Mafnas said Customs used equipment to identify what the liquid was. “When we used the tool, it identified [the liquid] as methamphetamine,” he added.
“The first package of four lava lamps came on Sept. 23, the other four lava lamps came this morning, Sept. 28 — both packages came from the same person,” he added.
Mafnas said it was the first time Customs had intercepted liquid meth.
The package was sent from the U.S. mainland, he added. “Two Chinese nationals have been arrested and are now being held at Corrections.”
“We been stopping a lot of crystal meth,” Mafnas said, “maybe now the bad elements wanted to try another route. Look at that, it looks like a decoration, but [our] officers are trained to examine packages [and they asked,] what is this liquid?”
“I hope the community and smugglers, criminals would think twice,” Mafnas said. “Meth or ‘ice’ is still the drug of choice here in the CNMI, which indicates that criminals are doing it for business, for money. I guess they are making money but when we stop this from crossing the border no money is going to come to them.”
Mafnas said the “reason why we are successful here at our border, is because of our great relationship with local and federal partners. Because when we all work together as a team, of course, something good is going to happen.”
“I am very happy, and our partners are very happy,” Mafnas added. “If [meth] goes out to the community, it’s going to destroy a lot of families, we’re going to have drug-related crimes, and so we stop it here. I’m so grateful with the joint operations with the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Public Safety-Drug Enforcement Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Corrections, the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US postal inspectors, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. These are our partners, and for me, the more partners the merrier,”
Joining Mafnas at the press conference on Thursday were Corrections Commissioner Anthony Torres, and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent John Duenas.
Torres congratulated Customs for a job well done. “In intercepting this large amount of meth, it’s going to keep our community safer by not allowing a large amount of meth to be in the streets…. We’re going to hold those criminals accountable. Teamwork makes the dream work,” he added.
For his part, Duenas said, “It’s true that great partnership makes a safer Marianas. Kudos to the governor’s office, to Customs, to Corrections, to DPS, for the great partnership, and without those partnerships we wouldn’t be successful. This is [over four] kilos of meth that have been taken off the street — [over four] kilos that we have less to worry about poisoning our kids and family.”
Mafnas said on Sept. 11, two pounds of crystal meth was also seized by Customs, bringing the total volume of recently seized meth to 12 lbs.
He, however, declined to provide additional information about the meth seized on Sept. 11.
Mafnas at the same time also expressed his appreciation to the governor, the lt. governor, and the secretary of Finance.
“They provide us the tools, the funding, to ensure that we are prepared to take care of our borders,” he said.
Division of Customs and Biosecurity officers are seen Thursday with the decorative lamps that contained the liquid methamphetamine.
Customs Director Jose C. Mafnas, left, with Corrections Commissioner Anthony Torres, center, and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent John Duenas at a press conference on Thursday.
These decorative lamps, which contained liquid methamphetamine, were seized by Customs at the U.S. Post Office in Chalan Kanoa on Sept. 23, 2023.
The liquid methamphetamine in these decorative lamps has a street value of over $1.8 million, Customs Director Jose C. Mafnas said.
