A man has been arrested in the San Gabriel Valley and charged with attempting to ship more than a ton of methamphetamine to Australia, federal authorities say.
Jing Tang Li, 32, of El Monte, faces federal charges of distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, exporting controlled substances and attempt and conspiracy to export controlled substances, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.
U.S. Customs inspected seven shipments destined for Australia last year, authorities said. The shipping containers wrongly contained carpets and textiles, furniture, wheel hub testing equipment and a molding machine, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The shipping companies listed for the products also turned out to be counterfeit.
In total, authorities seized more than 1,000 kilograms, or the equivalent of more than 2,200 pounds, of methamphetamine from those shipping containers.
“Dangerous drugs like methamphetamine are devastating our community. We see the misery caused by highly addictive drugs on our streets every day,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “The massive amount of methamphetamine seized in this case shows just how brazen drug traffickers have become and why it is imperative that we use our resources to hold these criminals accountable.”
Authorities said they were eventually able to trace the shipments to Li, who was arrested Thursday after he was seen driving near a South El Monte warehouse where the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had responded to a reported theft earlier in the day.
Inside that warehouse, authorities said, were shipping labels, scales and also a package containing methamphetamine.
If convicted as charged, Li faces a minimum sentence of 10 years, with a possible maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
The Homeland Security Investigations Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Australian Federal Police all investigated the case.
“Situated just three hours north of the busiest border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, Los Angeles has become a key cog in the transnational drug trade,” Eddy Wang, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “HSI Los Angeles and our partners … are committed to dismantling these organizations on both sides of the Pacific.”
