Posted on: Sunday, April 10, 2005

Drug smuggler gets 16-year prison term

Advertiser Staff

U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Marvin Postadan, 36, to a 200-month prison term for conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute it, and for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Postadan was the target of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation known as "Shave Ice." Between May and October 2003, 16 wiretaps were conducted in that investigation, federal agents said.

Postadan led a drug distribution organization on the Big Island that brought crystal methamphetamine and cocaine from California into Hawai'i, U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo Jr. said.

The transportation methods included cargo shipments, the U.S. mail and private carriers UPS and FedEx. Evidence at the sentencing revealed that Postadan brought into Hawai'i at least 50 pounds of ice and 50 kilograms of cocaine from a source in California during a single year. He was indicted for distribution of methamphetamine on the Big Island from 1999 through 2003.

Kubo said the task force included the Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area; the FBI; the Hawai'i County Police Department; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Coast Guard; the IRS; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.