SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho on Monday imposed a $1 million cash bail on Yuzhu Zhang, 48, who was charged with importation of contraband, trafficking and possession of a controlled substance.
Zhang is accused of attempting to smuggle, through mail, 4.9 pounds of methamphetamine. The seized methamphetamine contraband has a street value of $700,000, authorities said.
During his bail hearing, when asked what he does for work, the defendant said he rents a vehicle, which he uses to pick up customers like a taxi. Asked by the judge how much he earns from the taxi service he provides, the defendant said $1,500 a month.
Finding the defendant indigent, Judge Camacho appointed Assistant Public Defender Vina Seelam to represent Zhang.
Assistant Attorney General Heather Barcinas appeared for the government.
After the hearing, Zhang was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections and ordered to return to court on March 30, 2022 for a preliminary hearing, and on April 4, 2022 for an arraignment.
According to the complaint against Zhang, on March 19, 2022, at around 10 a.m. while conducting a routine inspection, a Customs officer noticed a square object wrapped in duct tape under a piece of Chinaware in a wooden case. The Customs officer noticed a white crystalline substance spilling onto the wooden case.
The large parcel of Chinaware in three separate wooden cases was addressed to a Garapan postal service.
The Bureau of Contraband Enforcement under CNMI Customs conducted a presumptive test for the presence of methamphetamine, and it yielded a positive result.
The bureau processed the evidence as exhibits 1, 2, and 3.
Exhibit 1 weighed 745.8 grams; exhibit 2, 741.7 grams; and exhibit 3, 748.3 grams for a total weight or 2,235.8 grams or about 4.9 pounds of methamphetamine.
The bureau said it established a surveillance operation at the post office in Chalan Kanoa, and the postal service in Garapan.
Zhang was identified as the person who picked up the parcel at the postal service in Garapan. Drug Enforcement Task Force members approached and secured Zhang and the vehicle he was driving.
In the vehicle, DETF agents found 19 small clear plastic bags containing methamphetamine weighing 26.3 grams and $4,239 in cash.
Yuzhu Zhang, charged with importing methamphetamine through mail, arrived at the judicial building on Monday morning in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
Yuzhu Zhang
