A former Maui police officer and five other Valley Island residents have been arrested on charges they were part of a drug operation to import six pounds of crystal methamphetamine from Las Vegas this year.

Federal authorities said the case is based on wiretaps of cellular phones and is "fairly significant," given the amount of ice destined for the island within less than two weeks in May and June.

Former Maui officer Reed Kaleookalani Aken Sr. and the five others, who were arrested Thursday, pleaded not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Kevin Chang yesterday. Their trial is set for the week of Sept. 20 before U. S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway.

All six are being held without bail at the federal detention center here. If convicted, each faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.

Aken is accused of being the operation's courier, taking money to Las Vegas and returning with ice.

Aken's lawyer, Emmett Lee Loy, declined to comment yesterday, but assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara said Aken had left the Maui police force before he was allegedly involved in the drug ring.

Kawahara said a Las Vegas man, the alleged supplier, also has been arrested.

He said the investigation by Maui County police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is continuing and could result in other charges.

The wiretaps were authorized by U. S. District Court judges starting in April. Kawahara said federal authorities have used wiretaps on cellular phones previously.

A federal grand jury indictment said the six were involved in a conspiracy that included Aken leaving Maui for Las Vegas on May 25 and having about two pounds of ice under clothes he wore at Los Angeles International Airport on May 28.

On June 6, Leandro Gomez III, the alleged supplier of the drugs and the seventh man named in the indictment, sent about four pounds of ice in a parcel through UPS to Maui, the indictment said.

Gomez was arrested in Las Vegas and will be transferred to Honolulu, Kawahara said.

The other five Maui residents are Nathaniel Russell, aka "Bobo" or "Bo"; his wife, Pamela Mahealani Newton; John Corniel Jr.; Aken's ex-wife, Cyrinah L. Aken, aka Cyrinah L. Solomon, and Charles R.K. Farren.

Russell and Newton supervised the operation, the indictment said, with Corniel serving as a middle man, arranging with Gomez to replenish the operation's "methamphetamine inventory" and distributing the drug to Maui customers, including Farren.

Cyrinah Aken assisted in various ways, including holding the money to purchase ice, handling some of the finances and contacting Gomez, according to the indictment.