Previous Story
Propst wants to penalize businesses snared in illegal drugs
Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan) is set to introduce a bill that seeks to establish a more severe penalty for businesses that engage in drug-related activities.
The freshman lawmaker wants businesses caught dabbling in illegal drugs to be fined a minimum of $250,000 and have their business license revoked for a year. He said this penalty is separate from any criminal fees, fines, and penalties under the current law.
The fines collected from erring companies, Propst suggests, would be divvied up as follows: 25 percent to the Department of Public Safety for drug enforcement purposes; 25 percent to the Division of Customs for drug enforcement purposes; 25 percent to the CNMI drug court; and 25 percent to the general fund.
Propst’s introduction of what he terms the “Commercial Business-Drug Control Act of 2016” comes as the Division of Customs, for a second time, found a cache of methamphetamine or “ice” in a cargo container brought in by Sunleader, a cargo consolidating company on Saipan.
Propst, in the bill he is set to introduce, said, “The Legislature finds that certain business establishments, both small and large, have engaged and/or are engaging in illicit drug trade. This illegal activity continues to negatively affect our residents and our great Commonwealth as a whole.”
He added that businesses that have been caught engaging in such activities continue to conduct business operations with the CNMI.
To remedy this, Propst wants appropriate measures taken to penalize business establishments that also engage in the illegal drug business.
Last Dec. 2, Customs found 4.9 lbs of “ice” with a street value of around $850,000 inside a 5-gallon paint container inside a cargo container belonging to Sunleader during a routine inspection at the Port of Saipan.
Nearly five months earlier, a Customs inspector detected “ice” in an air compressor in a container from Guangzhou, China, at the seaport warehouse. The illegal drugs found weighed 23 lbs and worth between $3.2 million and $4.3 million. The container where the compressor was found also belonged to Sunleader.
