A Honolulu man is the latest defendant to be indicted on federal charges of participating in a drug trafficking organization that shipped as much as 450 pounds of methamphetamine to Hawai'i from Nevada between 2000 and September 2005.

The defendant, Donald Dempsey, was ordered held without bail at the Federal Detention Center here by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang.

The indictment, returned yesterday, follows other charges previously lodged here and in Nevada that describe a large and sophisticated operation that allegedly obtained huge quantities of "ice," or crystal methamphetamine, from Nevada and then repackaged and shipped them here.

Bags of drugs were "wrapped in plastic wrap, coated with transmission fluid, automotive oil/grease or mustard and wrapped in another layer of plastic wrap or carbon paper, all in an attempt to disguise the odor of the methamphetamine," the indictment alleged.

The packages were then shipped to Hawai'i using "parcel delivery services such as the U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Federal Express," the indictment said.

Dempsey allegedly accepted some of the shipments here and delivered them to another defendant previously charged in the case, James Low, the new indictment said.

Another defendant, James Tadio, is cooperating with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and told agents "in approximately 2000-2002, he and Donald Dempsey picked up numerous parcels containing multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine which had been delivered to the Queen Emma building" in Honolulu, according to a sworn affidavit filed in the case by DEA agent Gerald Lawson.

Yesterday's indictment identifies 23 alleged conspirators in the trafficking organization.

It charged that the drugs were obtained from Benjamin Acuna and Anabel Valenzuela, who were originally charged in the case in Nevada but are now in federal custody here, awaiting trial scheduled to begin in August.

Acuna unsuccessfully sought to have his trial moved to Nevada because he said witnesses there could testify about his "stellar work ethic" and his "less than ostentatious lifestyle."

Acuna is an illegal alien who supplemented his family's income by working jobs that paid him "under the table," but witnesses who could attest to those facts can't be located while Acuna is in custody in Hawai'i, the motion said.