SHUO Qiu, who was charged with drug trafficking and firearms possession, is accusing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency of unlawful search and seizure.
In an affidavit, Qiu, who is also known as “Ike,” stated that he was a cooperating informer of the Department of Public Safety-Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Through his attorney Robert T. Torres, Qiu is asking the District Court for the NMI to suppress and exclude evidence obtained by the authorities during his arrest in January at a hotel.
According to Torres, the search warrant issued for Room No. 639 lacked probable cause for its issuance, and the items seized as a result of the illegal search must be excluded.
Torres said police also searched another hotel room, No. 339, without a warrant, “and the evidence seized therefrom must be excluded.”
Police performed the warrantless search without any applicable exception to the warrant requirement, all in violation of Qiu’s constitutional rights, Torres added.
In an affidavit to support the motion to suppress, Qiu stated that he had signed three cooperation agreements with the government.
He said he signed the first in December 2019 on Capital Hill without an attorney present.
He said he signed the second cooperation agreement signed in April 2020 at the Department of Corrections with an attorney present.
He said he signed the third cooperation agreement in July 2020 with his attorney present at the Department of Corrections.
On Jan. 12, 2022, he said police came into the hotel room where he was staying, Room No. 639, and was handcuffed and searched. “I answered the questions the agents asked me,” Qiu said.
“The agents asked me, do I need a lawyer? I said I am working for you guys. They said, okay, tell me all the things you know, we’re going to give you another chance to cooperate.”
He said the agents wanted the combination to the safe in the room so “I gave them the combination,” Qiu added.
He said the agent also asked questions about another room, “and I told the agent that I had also rented Room No. 339. After the interview…an officer wanted the combination for the safe in Room No. 339. I did not want to give the combination for the safe in Room No. 339, so I gave a different combination.”
Qiu said he was brought to Room No. 339 where his father and girlfriend were handcuffed and sitting on a bed.
“One of the agents told me that if there were illegal items in the safe in Room No. 339 and that I said I did not know the code, then the agents would arrest my father and my girlfriend for whatever was in the safe,” he added.
“I did not want to give the combination to the safe…but I was surrounded by agents with guns and I was in handcuffs and I felt pressured about what would happen to my father and girlfriend because the agent was making threats about arresting them,” Qiu said in his affidavit.
On Jan. 12, 2022, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the NMI Drug Enforcement Task Force executed a search warrant and seized 1.6 pounds of methamphetamine, an undetermined amount of cash, and two handguns with ammunition from Qiu in a hotel room where he was staying for the past six months.
Qiu was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance (methamphetamine), and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Qiu, in a freely given statement to the DEA, and through an interpreter, stated that he was mainly supplied by two people who would give him between 100 grams and 500 grams, depending on how his sales had been.
Qiu also said “he has more local customers than anyone on island.”
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona. in an order on April 12, 2022, denied Qiu’s request to modify his bail and be released to a third-party custodian.
