HOUSTON – U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani joined Special Agents in Charge Daniel Comeaux and Craig Larrabee of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations Monday afternoon to announce a significant arrest related to a record seizure.
Hamdani announced a four-count indictment has been filed against a 48-year-old Chinese national for his part in a conspiracy involving the importation of what is believed to be the largest amount of fentanyl precursors found in the Southern District of Texas and one of the largest in the country.
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Minsu Fang, aka Fernando, is expected to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga in Laredo on July 23 at 11 a.m.
Authorities originally arrested Fang in New York City, New York, on June 19 on an arrest warrant based out of Laredo.
On July 17, a federal grand jury charged Minsu Fang aka Fernando in the four-count indictment under seal with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for unlawful importation, conspiracy to import a controlled substance and conspiracy to export a controlled substance.
The now unsealed charges allege Fang and his associates shipped over 2,000 kilograms of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into the United States and onto Mexico in approximately 100 separate shipments between August and October 2023. Fang and his co-conspirators were able to avoid law enforcement interdiction of the shipments by declaring them to have a de minimis value, less than $800, and blending the boxes containing the precursor chemicals with similarly low-valued import items, according to the charges.
As a result, each shipment was allegedly admitted into the United States without a detailed inspection of the individual contents. Once in the United States, Fang, through co-conspirators, shipped the chemicals into Mexico, according to the charges.
If convicted, Fang faces up to life on each count of conviction as well as a $10 million fine.
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