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Suspected drug trafficker pleads guilty
A 51-year-old man arrested last November for allegedly selling methamphetamine or “ice” on Saipan pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a controlled substance yesterday in the Superior Court.
Liu Zhia Shan will b sentenced on June 21, 2017.
The bench trial set for March 6, 2017, was vacated.
After the hearing, Shan, also known as Papa, was remanded into the custody of the Department of Corrections pending his sentencing.
The Office of the Attorney General originally charged him with trafficking of a controlled substance and illegal possession of a controlled substance, which carry a total maximum sentence of 30 consecutive years imprisonment.
Last Jan. 17, the OAG removed the charge of trafficking of a controlled substance.
The remaining count of illegal possession of a controlled substance carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.
Shan was found in possession of crystal methamphetamine on April 1, 2016, on Saipan.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho noted that Shan has no prior conviction.
Assistant public defender Tillman Clark is counsel for Shan. Assistant attorney general Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
Members of the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration Saipan Post of Duty arrested Shan last November.
Police said a cooperating defendant was able to buy $230 worth of “ice” from Shan during a “buy-walk” operation last April 1 in Chalan Kanoa.
During the operation, the cooperating defendant met Shan outside a poker arcade in Chalan Kanoa, then the two proceeded to a parking of a store in Chalan Kanoa.
