‘Suspected dealer had just wired $10,000’

Yong Ming Song, who was reportedly caught with 176.6 grams of methamphetamine or “ice” worth $80,000, had just wired a total of $10,000 to China in two days, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

In his report, DEA special agent Daniel Holcomb stated that, based on his training and experience, Song’s wire transfer activities were consistent with “smurfing.”

Smurfing, he explained, is an attempt to conduct multiple wire transfers of money under $10,000 to avoid mandatory federal currency transaction reporting requirements.

“Smurfing is a common method used by drug traffickers to smuggle drug trafficking proceeds out of the United States,” Holcomb said.

Song was arrested last week after a police’s check on him for driving without a seatbelt yielded 176.6 grams of “ice”—the second biggest haul of such illegal drugs so far in the CNMI.

Song, an employee of Rifu Garment Factory in San Vicente, is facing charges of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in federal court.

The defendant apparently told authorities that he just picked up the package under the bench of a bus stop—as directed by his friend, a person named Chen based in China.

Holcomb said that when he searched Song’s wallet, he found two Western Union receipts dated Sept. 9 and 10, 2008, and several hundred dollars.

Both receipts, Holcomb said, indicated that the garment worker wired $5,000 to China on each day.

The defendant told authorities he sent the money to his parents-in-law in China.

Song claimed he won the money in two separate days at two different poker arcades.

Holcomb, however, noted that, according to the Department of Finance, the maximum payout in most poker machines on Saipan is capped at $1,000.

The agent said other officers also located a small, black Chinese-English dictionary in the center console of Song’s Toyota Corolla car.

He said when they opened the dictionary, they noticed that the pages inside had been hollowed out in a rectangular shape equivalent to the size of the packages of “ice” found inside a bag in the car.

In addition, officers recovered a partially empty water bottle in the center console.

Holcomb said “ice” traffickers frequently carry partially empty water bottles near their drugs, so they can dump the drugs inside the water bottle before law enforcers could discover it.