Agents Intercept Opium

 Shipment At DHL Facility

Similar Bust Made Last Month In Chicago

POSTED: 2:38 pm EST February 22, 2010

HEBRON, Ky. — Customs agents intercepted more than 150 pounds of opium Friday at a Hebron shipping company.

Authorities said agents discovered seven separate shipments of the drug during a routine screening of international parcels at the DHL facility at Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

The parcels, which were shipped from Laos and bound for Minneapolis, were listed as “Hmong Traditional Medicine Tea,” but instead contained plastic bags filled with wood twigs and dried leaves.

Agents said the leaves appeared to be saturated with an unknown substance that had a distinctive odor, and investigators said the substance tested positive for the presence of opiates.

The bags filled with opium-saturated twigs and leaves weighed 152 pounds total, agents said.

Authorities disrupted a shipment of similar items last month in Chicago, and agents said their investigation was ongoing.