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2 suspected ‘ice’ traffickers fall
Members of the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration Saipan Post of Duty arrested on Wednesday afternoon two persons who allegedly sell methamphetamine or “ice” on Saipan.
Officers served an arrest warrant on Joleen Camacho Castro, 35, in Sadog Tasi, and on Liu Zhia Shan, 51, also known as Papa, in Chalan Kanoa, for alleged trafficking of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.
Their bail was retained at $100,000 cash each.
Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo appointed assistant public defender Tillman Clark as counsel for Castro and Shan. Assistant attorney general Heather Barcinas appeared for the government.
Preliminary hearing for Castro will be on Nov. 25 at 9am, while for Shan will be on Nov.22 at 1:30pm.
In Castro’s case, police officer Nicholas Aldan Rabauliman stated in his report that a cooperating defendant managed to buy “ice” from Castro during a “buy-walk operation” in the parking lot of a hotel in Sadog Tasi in the afternoon of Sept. 27.
In Shan’s case, police officer Roque K. Camacho stated in his report that they received information in the past about a Chinese national who has been selling “ice” at a poker room in Chalan Kanoa and in that village.
Camacho said a confidential source disclosed that a Chinese national known as Papa, later identified as Shan, once approached him/her and asked if he/she wants to buy “ice.” Papa then allegedly provided him/her his cell phone number.
The cooperating source then volunteered to assist the task force and other law enforcement in looking into Papa’s drug activities.
Camacho said a cooperating defendant was able to buy $230 worth of “ice” from Shan during a “buy-walk” operation in the afternoon of April 1.
Camacho said the cooperating defendant first met Shan outside a poker arcade in Chalan Kanoa, then the two proceeded to a parking lot of a store in Chalan Kanoa.
Rabauliman and Camacho said the test of the seized drugs in the two cases were both presumptive positive for methamphetamine.
