Long Beach, HK port security questioned in Mexican drug shipment
Highlighting the everyday nature of illegal international shipments, Chinese and U.S. authorities are investigating whether a breakdown in security at the ports of Hong Kong and Long Beach allowed more than 19 tons of an illegal methamphetamine precursor chemical to reach Mexico.
Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told a press conference Thursday that law enforcement officials are attempting to deduce how false paperwork allowed the shipment to pass through the two ports and arrive in the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas before being seized by Mexican authorities earlier this year.
The seizure of the methamphetamine-precursor shipment led to what officials are calling the world’s largest seizure of drug money and the arrest of the importer, Chinese-Mexican businessperson Zhenli Ye Gon.
Following the seizure of the chemicals, authorities raided Ye Gon's Mexico City mansion and found a hidden stash of more than $205 million. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Ye Gon Monday in a suburban Washington restaurant. A federal grand jury indicted Ye Gon on Thursday, accusing him of conspiracy to aid in the production of methamphetamine destined for the United States.
Mexican Assistant Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos questioned how Ye Gon could have amassed more than $125 million in Las Vegas gambling losses since 2004 and yet not raise the suspicions of U.S. authorities.
U.S. and Chinese officials have not commented on the investigation.
Long Beach, HK port security questioned in Mexican drug shipment
