Two charged for alleged drug trafficking

Prosecutors charged a Chinese tourist and his alleged girlfriend with possession and trafficking of a controlled substance after operatives seized some 86.4 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride from the couple’s Saipan apartment.

Zhou Xu, the tourist, and Hua Shang, a Saipan worker, appeared before Superior Court associate judge Kenneth Govendo yesterday afternoon for a scheduled preliminary hearing.

That proceeding, though, did not materialize after prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed on waiving the preliminary hearing. CNMI chief prosecutor David Hutton and assistant attorney general John Eaton agreed to allow the defense to avail of pre-trial discovery methods.

The judge scheduled the defendants’ arraignment on Monday next week.

Govendo reduced the bail imposed on the 25-year-old Zhou from $400,000 to $300,000 upon the request of the defendant’s lawyer, Ramon Quichocho. The judge also modified Hua’s bail from $100,000 to $18,000. Lawyer Joe Camacho assisted Hua in yesterday’s proceeding.

Operatives swooped down on the defendants’ Gualo Rai apartment Thursday last week after conducting surveillance operations following Zhou’s arrival on Saipan on Feb. 3. Armed with a search warrant, lawmen seized some 84.6 grams of ice from the apartment and arrested the couple.

Hutton said the tourist has been coming in and out of Saipan to traffic ice. A confidential informant who allegedly had past drug transactions with Zhou informed authorities of his arrival on Saipan. The informant had known Zhou as “Mr. Chang.”

Hutton said the Attorney General’s Office and the Local Drugs and Firearms Task Force, with the help of the Drug Enforcement Administration, conducted surveillance operations on Zhou.

Before Zhou’s arrest, task force members from the Customs Service division interviewed the informant. Operatives then secured an eavesdrop search warrant from the Superior Court and conducted surveillance on Zhou.

On Wednesday last week, the task force and the DEA conducted a controlled-buy operation against Zhou, wherein the informant paid the tourist marked money amounting to $700 in exchange for ice. Field-testing conducted later confirmed the sold substance as ice.

Operatives ascertained Zhou’s true identity after the latter got flagged down on a traffic violation. When Zhou failed to show any identification, he invited the traffic officer to his apartment in Gualo Rai and showed his passport.

Operatives then asked the Superior Court for a search warrant on Zhou’s apartment.