U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Presiding Judge Alex R. Munson yesterday said there was probable cause that a crime had been committed by Yong Ming Song of San Antonio, Saipan.
The court remanded the defendant to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service after the preliminary hearing.
The defendant appeared in court for the preliminary examination with his court-appointed counsel, Joey San Nicolas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Benedetto represented the federal government.
The court set no bail, without prejudice, for the defendant during his initial appearance on Sept. 12.
The defendant, an employee of Rifu Garment Factory in San Vicente, was arrested for possessing 176.6 grams of methamphetamine on Sept. 11.
In an affidavit, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Daniel Holcomb said CNMI Department of Public Safety officers saw that a man driving a white Toyota Corolla was not wearing a seat belt.
As the officers tried to stop the car, they saw the driver trying to put on his seat belt.
When the officers asked the driver, later identified as the defendant, for his documents, they noticed that his hands were shaking.
The officers also noticed a strong odor of alcohol on the defendant’s breath. When he was ordered to step out of the vehicle, police officers noticed that his knees were shaking.
The defendant was asked if he was nervous and he said yes.
The officers asked the defendant if he had anything illegal in his car. He said “no” but the officers still searched the vehicle.
The police found three boxes of Oil of Olay boxes that had been opened and taped shut inside a bag.
After opening the boxes, the police found 15 boxes of Ziplock bags containing a foil package that had a crushed, glass-like substance in it.
The defendant told police and DEA agents that a friend in China called him to pick up a package from the bus stop at the Beach Road-Quartermaster intersection.
He said he owed his friend some money so he agreed to pick up the package.
Holcomb searched the defendant’s wallet and found two receipts from Western Union Money Transfer and several hundred dollars.
The receipts showed the defendant wired $5,000 on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.
The defendant claimed that he won the money from gambling at two different poker houses.
Holcomb identified the wire transfer activities as “smurfing,” or an attempt to conduct multiple wire transfers of money under $10,000 to avoid mandatory federal currency transaction reporting requirements.
Holcomb said “smurfing” is a common method used by drug traffickers to smuggle proceeds from drug trafficking out of the U.S.
