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U.S. and Chinese Authorities Charge Chinese Nationals in Prison Drug Smuggling Scheme
Just the facts
A superseding federal indictment returned in the Eastern District of Texas charged Chinese nationals Lisa Xing and Zhanwen Song with drug trafficking and money laundering offenses. Prosecutors allege that Xing and Song shipped synthetic opioids and cannabinoids from China to domestic co-defendants Adell Willis of Texas and Judy Ly of Michigan. The domestic distributors allegedly dissolved the substances into liquid, soaked sheets of paper with the mixture, and mailed them to inmates in federal and state prisons across the United States. Working through a joint counternarcotics task force, China's Ministry of Public Security arrested Xing, Song, and 19 co-conspirators, seized 475 kilograms of synthetic cannabinoids, and dismantled four illegal manufacturing facilities.
Why this is news
Federal prosecutors in Texas and Chinese law enforcement officers targeted an international drug trafficking network accused of smuggling synthetic drugs into U.S. correctional facilities.
Sources
This summary is compiled strictly from the original reporting below.