PORT ANGELES — A record amount of the dance club drug Ecstasy seized outside Port Angeles last week was destined for Los Angeles and Houston, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said.
Three more arrests in those cities have been made, with one suspect still on the run, bringing the total to seven arrested.
Four Canadian men are accused of trying to smuggle 465 pounds of the drug popular at raves and dance clubs.
They have been charged with conspiring to import Ecstasy and possessing with intent to distribute Ecstasy.
Arrested by federal agents Oct. 20 were Ka Wai Andy Cheung, Wing Ho Jimmy Ho, King Yin Peter Fong and Ying Wai Wong.
All the men were residents of Vancouver, British Columbia.
They are being held at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Two men were arrested in Houston and one in Los Angeles, the statement said.
Agents are still looking for another man in Los Angeles.
Many worked together
The effort was led by agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with assistance from Clallam County Sheriff’s Department and the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team, or OPNET.
“We all work together on these things,” said sheriff’s Capt. Ron Cameron, commander of the team.
Agents began following the three men after they crossed into the U.S. through the Blaine border on Oct. 17, court documents say.
The men drove to Port Angeles, spent the night in a motel, and then drove along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, checking out marinas and boat ramps, documents say.
The men drove back to Bellingham, then returned the next day with a truck and a trailer and spent the night in another motel.
The next morning they drove to the boat launch at Freshwater Bay and met a 24-foot Maxum boat, Just Chillin’, and attempted to load it onto the trailer.
But the trailer was too small, documents say, and the trailer and truck became submerged in the water.
