Posted on: Thursday, May 8, 2003

Three arrested in Maui drug case

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two Maui men were charged yesterday with possessing more than 5 pounds of cocaine.

Basho Elliot and John Meston were named in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. They are accused of receiving 5.5 pounds of cocaine, with the intention of distributing the drug.

The FedEx package was intercepted by narcotic officers in Sun Valley, Calif., last Thursday, according to an affidavit filed by Honolulu Police Officer Russell Woodward, who is assigned to the Hawai'i Airport Task Force.

The package was sent to Hawai'i Monday, and a search by Woodward revealed two "rectangular shaped objects" that contained a powder, which tested to be cocaine, the affidavit said. The cocaine was replaced, and authorities placed a tracker in the parcel.

It was delivered to a Kapunakea Street home in Lahaina and accepted by a woman, who left the package in the carport, the affidavit said. Soon after, a pickup truck showed up and a man identified by Woodward as Meston picked up the packet.

Meston drove to a Kaniau Road home and took the parcel to a workshop. Officers entered the workshop and arrested Meston and Elliot. A woman who lived at the home also was arrested.