Ice enters Hawai'i by all routes, disguises

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Drug traffickers are using Hawai'i's commercial airlines and cargo shipping to import significant amounts of crystal methamphetamine every week, despite stepped-up security efforts since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and efforts by authorities to interrupt the drug trade.

KUBO

Varying quantities of the drug, from grams to pounds, are sent via U.S. mail and through private shippers such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express.

The relative ease with which crystal methamphetamine is brought into Hawai'i is frustrating and disturbing to law-enforcement officials, who are under mounting pressure to do something about ice addiction. Authorities say Hawai'i consumes more of the drug per-capita than any other state.

A dramatic example of smuggling surfaced recently in Operation Shave Ice, a multiagency law-enforcement investigation that broke up five ice rings in Hawai'i and led to the arrest of nearly 50 people. A group allegedly headed by Marvin Postadan hollowed out a hydraulic lift, stuffed it with drugs or money, and shipped it back and forth between Hawai'i and their Mainland supplier, said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo.

Law-enforcement officials say they don't know how much of the illegal drug is coming into Hawai'i, but acknowledge they face a formidable task in preventing it.

Seaborne cargo containers, more than 1,000 of which are unloaded in Hawai'i every day, are used to smuggle mass quantities of narcotics into the state, authorities said.

"Hawai'i is not a drug-producing state. Most of the narcotics seized here are imported," said Briane Grey, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Honolulu.

"Drugs are no different than a roll of toilet paper," he said. "If you want to get in bulk, maybe you go cargo. Small amount, you need it right away, send a courier. Wait a couple days? Send an Express Mail package. This is what happens. This is what is going on."

"We don't interdict stateside as much as what is coming in," said FBI Special Agent Arnold Laanui Jr. "It's a losing battle."

Law-enforcement officials say the high volume of shipping into the state makes it impossible for every suspicious item to be inspected.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal mandate requires inspection of every piece of luggage aboard a plane, but the Transportation Security Administration screeners are not trained to look for drugs, Kubo said.

According to the DEA, a pound of crystal meth retails in the western United States for $7,000 to $8,000. The same pound can be sold in Hawai'i for $22,000 to $42,000.

"It's economics 101," Laanui said.

Because everything coming into the state cannot be inspected, investigators focus on developing leads on who is running the drug import operations.

"We get hit on a total front — there are a bunch of organizations operating in the state that are highly organized and working with elements on the Mainland who are manufacturing drugs in super-labs in California or in Mexico, and then shipping it down," said Larry Burnett, director of the Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a partnership of federal and state agencies.

"It is not just a matter of going and finding packages or cargo. Anything shipped domestic is protected by the Constitution."

To search mail or cargo, inspectors must establish probable cause and obtain a search warrant. But even then, traffickers have developed elaborate forms of evasion, engineering ways to mold methamphetamine into statuettes, plates and other ceramic items. Some will sew the drugs into clothes linings that are then packed and shipped.

A riskier but often-used tactic is body packing, in which electrical tape is used to fasten pounds of drugs to the skin, then concealing it under clothes. The technique is easy to detect only if the drugs noticeably alter a passenger's appearance, officials said.

"Smuggling ability is limited to the creativity of the smuggler," Laanui said.

Officials agree they cannot arrest their way out of Hawai'i's methamphetamine problem, but they note that two state laws prevent them from combating drug suppliers effectively.

Police officers are not allowed to conduct "walk and talk" operations or wiretap suspects' phones without first disclosing their investigation to a judge, which officials say is almost certain to tip off suspects.

"We're fighting with one arm tied behind our backs," Kubo said.

Before a 1992 Hawai'i Supreme Court decision, officers were allowed to approach people and start casual conversation after identifying themselves as officers on the lookout for drugs, Kubo said.

At any time during the conversation, the individual could walk away. But if probable cause surfaced during the conversation, the police could take action. This tactic was most often used at the airport to stop human couriers and body packers.

All other states allow "walk and talk"-type operations.

Only federal agents at Honolulu International Airport are able to use the technique in Hawai'i, including police officers deputized by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to make up for a shortage of labor.

Federal wiretaps were used in Operation Shave Ice, which combined the efforts of federal, state and county law-enforcement officials.

Kubo said state laws prevent any evidence gathered through federal wiretaps to be used in state court, "meaning the lower-level drug dealers can't be prosecuted after the big boys go down in federal court."

Besides amending state laws, which law-enforcement officials are expected to ask the Legislature to do, the biggest need in going after drug smuggling is federal staffing, Burnett said.

"We're going to be busy for a while," he said, "but we're going to get the ice off the island."

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.