275 Million Baht Worth Of Raw Opium Sent From Thailand Seized In New York

[Buchholz]

The 30 porcelain cats contained a total of 205 pounds of raw opium

More than $9 million in opium seized at JFK airport

New York (CNN) -- Authorities in New York seized more than $9 million worth of opium hidden inside a shipment of porcelain figurines last month at John F. Kennedy International Airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday. The seizure happened on January 21, the agency said in a press release.

More than 30 porcelain cats were discovered in a shipment from Thailand, labeled "plastic samples" and despite an X-ray scan that yielded nothing suspicious, authorities chose to open the cargo and crack one of the figurines open, according to John Saleh, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. During the inspection, authorities discovered a total of 205 pounds of a brown, tar-like substance that turned out to be raw opium, mostly used to make heroin, Saleh said. The agency estimated the value of the opium at more than $9 million.

Continues:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/17/new.york.opium.seized/index.html?eref=rss_crime

CNN - Feb. 18, 2011

[Kwasaki]

That's good the other porcelain figure's went through OK then. :lol: :lol:

[BillR]

plastic samples? should of been labeled as porcelain cats

[Heng]

It probably doesn't mean much as if even 1 in 10 shipments makes it through, they still turn a huge profit. That's what happens when you have hundreds of thousands of morons willing to pay for a substance that in nature has less value than manure.

[MJP]

The importer should at least be charged with crimes of poor taste against a mantelpiece.

[Ulysses G.]

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

[Steely Dan]

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

By the looks of things those cats are anything but refined.

[MILT]

Have you ever seen the people who are stung out on opium? It is in my opinion a very hard drug that reduces a person to skin and bones. Apple and oranges

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

[AZBill]

I wonder how many upset Thai customs and airport officials there are tonight knowing they aren't getting their slice! Is this how Thailand figures it will become a player in global trade?

[backfromouterspace]

Imagine Thailands GDP if drug shipments were included in the official figures.

[TheWizardofRnR]

That's good the other porcelain figure's went through OK then. :lol: :lol:

Always give up the smaller shipment , your right ! B)

[scotbeve]

I wonder how many upset Thai customs and airport officials there are tonight knowing they aren't getting their slice! Is this how Thailand figures it will become a player in global trade?

And Lao Ta walks around Mae Ai district with a cuppa coffee in his hand.... Such a professional judicial system here - NOT!!!!

[bitterbatter]

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

Maybe the buyer was a pharmaceutical company that wanted to process it properly. Lord knows that prescription opiates in the US are huge business these days. Of course most of the people taking it, have no idea that these drugs are opiate based and how the usa really doesn't want countries like Afghanistan and Mynamar to stop production of it.

[bitterbatter]

It probably doesn't mean much as if even 1 in 10 shipments makes it through, they still turn a huge profit. That's what happens when you have hundreds of thousands of morons willing to pay for a substance that in nature has less value than manure.

They stuck the other nine shipments into the warehouse next door before calling the feds. They know with how much they tend to exaggerate the value of busts that the supplier may think they got it all and not realize their partners just stole most of it. At least the farmers got their 5000 baht profit.

[asiawatcher]

Agree with the OP - if they had labelled them porcelain cats, rather than plastic - would customs have taken notice? But surely now it will be relatively easy to trace back... But as also said - give up the small shipment and let the rest through - I often wonder what that amounts to? But I would think from stats released by US Govt last year - at least and estimated 20% of Americans use some for of substance (from weed to hard chemicals) and that means a good market - worth the risk if arms length.

[zorro1]

where do they grow this stuff in Thailand specifically? How is it processed to export quality?

The dealers are gonna get pissed at this bust.

[sirchai]

Have you ever seen the people who are stung out on opium? It is in my opinion a very hard drug that reduces a person to skin and bones. Apple and oranges

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

Opium was and still is a drug being used in countries like India, Sri Lanka and many others.

Some Opium Dans in Bombay were and are so full with people chasing the dragon.

I’ve met many old people smoking Opium all their lives and none of them was skinny.

To be honest the dosage is making a drug. Time for another Opium war, we all need it to produce medicine like morphine, or? :jap:

[sirchai]

Have you ever seen the people who are stung out on opium? It is in my opinion a very hard drug that reduces a person to skin and bones. Apple and oranges

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

Opium was and still is a drug being used in countries like India, Sri Lanka and many others.

Some Opium Dens in Bombay were and are so full with people chasing the dragon.

I've met many old people smoking Opium all their lives and none of them was skinny.

To be honest the dosage is making a drug. Time for another Opium war, we all need it to produce medicine like morphine, or? :jap:

New York City in the past.......The opium dens of New York City's Chinatown, due to its geographical distance from China, were not as opulent as some of those to be found on the American West Coast.

According to H. H. Kane, a doctor who spent years studying opium use in New York in the 1870s and 1880s, the most popular opium dens (or "opium joints" as they were known in the parlance of the day) were located on Mott and Pell streets in what is still Manhattan's Chinatown.

At the time, all the city's opium dens were run by Chinese, except for one on 23rd Street that was run by an American woman and her two daughters.

Kane remarked that New York's opium dens were one place "where all nationalities seem indiscriminately mixed". As in San Francisco, New Yorkers of all races would come to Chinatown to patronize its opium dens.

New York City's last opium den was raided and shut down on June 28, 1957. ( Maybe not all of them....)

I found this online and isn't it possible that there're some people who love to smoke it? I don't think that it was sent to America to make heroin out of it.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_den

[scotbeve]

Does anyone of you remember the temple that does a pretty good job of rehabilitating drug addicts? There was a story recently in Bangkok Post. I also remember seeing a story (in BP) approx. 8 - 10 yrs. ago about a temple that was rehabilitating a large amount of opium users in the north... I've heard rumours that the opium trade across the 4 trafficking borders of Thailand are more than rather active now... Lotsa BIB must be making a fortune....

[DP25]

where do they grow this stuff in Thailand specifically? How is it processed to export quality?

The dealers are gonna get pissed at this bust.

In Burma and Laos and smuggled across the border and then to the US

[OZinBKK]

It was a decoy Shipment - the real drugs are in the plastic lions (marked porcelain cats)

[yumidesign]

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

Maybe the buyer was a pharmaceutical company that wanted to process it properly. Lord knows that prescription opiates in the US are huge business these days. Of course most of the people taking it, have no idea that these drugs are opiate based and how the usa really doesn't want countries like Afghanistan and Mynamar to stop production of it.

\

The above makes no sense at all

[haybilly]

If they were going to make heroin with it, wouldn't they have refined it first? Opium is not really a hard drug compared to speed or heroin.

Maybe the buyer was a pharmaceutical company that wanted to process it properly. Lord knows that prescription opiates in the US are huge business these days. Of course most of the people taking it, have no idea that these drugs are opiate based and how the usa really doesn't want countries like Afghanistan and Mynamar to stop production of it.

\

The above makes no sense at all

Ditto to that--absolutely none at all.

[DickFarang]

Imagine Thailands GDP if drug shipments were included in the official figures.

Same-same for P4P.

[Tony Clifton]

That's peanuts compared to what the CIA and other agencies handle every year in order to feed and maintain their monstruous secret budgets.