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TOP STORIESSix O.C. residents suspected in international drug ringAuthorities say the drug ring transported drugs across Canada, Mexico, Australia and U.S.
The Orange County Register
WESTMINSTER - Orange County was only one of several stops in an international scheme in which ringleaders transported marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamines across four countries to make the highest profit, authorities said today. Leaders took advantage of lax laws to cheaply produce drugs, and then smuggled them through Canada, Mexico, Australia and the United States to sell at the highest possible prices, said Jose Martinez, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Six of the 10 individuals named in a federal indictment resided in Orange County, in Westminster, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Anaheim, Martinez said. They were arrested Dec. 5, 6 and 7 as authorities served search warrants across California. Thai Phi Do, 34, of Santa Ana and Luan Nguyen, 43, of Westminster, were the alleged heads of the cell in Orange County, Martinez said. The two took direction from 23-year-old Minh Tan Le, who investigators said led the entire operation from Vancouver, Canada, he said. "It's your typical business 101 pattern, only it is in the illicit," Martinez said. About $2 million in cash, 55,000 pills of ecstasy and 18 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in the investigation, which was dubbed Ramen Noodle by officials. DEA officials unveiled the complicated scheme in an 18-month investigation that began in Orange County when investigators found that large quantities of ecstasy were being purchased by an individual in Westminster, Martinez said. Individuals manufactured and purchased drugs in countries where it could be easily done, then sold them in countries where it would generate the highest profit because of stricter laws that inflated the cost, he said. Also named in the indictment were Vinh Hoang Tran, 39, of Westminster; Trang Thuy Nguyen, 33, of Garden Grove; Huy Ich Nguyen, 50, of Huntington Beach; Marco Antonio Garcia, 40, of Anaheim; Truong Lam Ngo, 35, of Sydney, Australia; Joshua Lee Clark, 27, of Lake Elsinore; and Jinfa Wang, 52, of Rosemead. Those named in the indictment face charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana, and conspiracy to launder money. Alleged ringleaders face up to 20 years in federal prison, Martinez said. Authorities are seeking extradition of those individuals living in Canada and Australia. The DEA led the investigation with assistance from the IRS, FBI, Fountain Valley Police Department, the Los Angeles Intra-agency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, as well as Canadian and Australian Authorities, Martinez said. Investigators said methamphetamine was manufactured in Canada, where a kilo is sold with a street value of $20,000 to $30,000, Martinez said. The ring would then ship the drug to Sydney, Australia where the price of the drug jumps to roughly $170,000 a kilo because of stricter laws for methamphetamine ingredients. Authorities said members of the ring duped custom officials by crystallizing the methamphetamine and turning it into slabs that were taped together to resemble cardboard boxes carrying teddy bears or jeans, Martinez said. When drug-sniffing dogs alerted officials to the drug, it would go undetected because the contents and not the box were investigated, Martinez said. High-volume narcotic sales in the United States, Mexico and Canada helped to aid the operation, an investigator said. According to officials, large quantities of marijuana and ecstasy were transported from Canada to the United States, where they were sold in large quantities. The money derived from sales in the United States was then transported by vehicle across the border to Mexico, Martinez said. In three stops during a six-week period, officials in San Diego detained individuals transporting more than $2 million in cash to Mexico, where authorities say the money was intended to be used to purchase cocaine from drug cartels there. Cocaine was then transported, through vehicles, back to Canada and sold at a higher price, Martinez said. That money was used to produce methamphetamines in large quantities, which would then be sold in Australia at more than five times the Canadian street value. The price discrepancy is largely credited to Canadian laws, which allow ingredients for methamphetamine to be bought and stored, as long as they are not stored in the same location, Martinez said. Members of the cell would keep the ingredients in separate warehouses and bring them together only during a single session where they would mass produce the drug before shipping it to Australia.
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