$3M of opium seized from Minnesota women at Chicago airport

Published: Updated:
(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

CHICAGO (AP) – Customs officials seized nearly 70 pounds of opium from three Minnesota women arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on a flight from Southeast Asia.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say the three women arrived at about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday on a flight from Laos, via Japan. Officers found 470 packets of opium concealed in bags of tea leaves and packed inside the women’s luggage.

Chicago police say the drugs are worth more than $3 million.

Police arrested the women, identified as 57-year-old Pa Yang and 58-year-old Mai Vue Vang of St. Paul, Minnesota, and 52-year-old True Thao of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. They are each charged with one felony drug court and are due in bond court Wednesday.

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