Drug Smuggling Northern California

Authorities arrested four suspected members of a drug-smuggling ring and seized 1,200 pounds of heroin Thursday in what U.S. Customs agents described as the largest heroin seizure in U.S. history. The China white heroin was seized from a Hayward warehouse that had been under surveillance for a month, the Hayward Daily Review reported, quoting unnamed Drug Enforcement Administration sources.

A member of Thailand's Parliament was charged with smuggling 45 tons of marijuana into the United States over a 14-year period in a 1991 indictment unsealed Tuesday. U.S. authorities have already seized a $1-million Beverly Hills home and a 1987 Mercedes-Benz owned by Thanong Siriprechapong. A federal judge's forfeiture order last May accepted the government's claim that the property had been bought with drug money.

A member of Thailand's Parliament was charged with smuggling 45 tons of marijuana into the United States over a 14-year period in a 1991 indictment unsealed Tuesday. U.S. authorities have already seized a $1-million Beverly Hills home and a 1987 Mercedes-Benz owned by Thanong Siriprechapong. A federal judge's forfeiture order last May accepted the government's claim that the property had been bought with drug money.

Authorities arrested four suspected members of a drug-smuggling ring and seized 1,200 pounds of heroin Thursday in what U.S. Customs agents described as the largest heroin seizure in U.S. history. The China white heroin was seized from a Hayward warehouse that had been under surveillance for a month, the Hayward Daily Review reported, quoting unnamed Drug Enforcement Administration sources.

Crews worked to unload fuel tanks on a 90-foot fishing boat seized in a drug raid off the coast in the Bay Area so the boat could be searched for hidden compartments, the Coast Guard said. No contraband was immediately found on the boat, which was seized off Half Moon Bay and towed to San Francisco after San Mateo County sheriff's deputies spotted a suspected drug-smuggling operation along the coast, the Coast Guard said.

A West Sacramento police officer who was shot in the head during a drug raid on an alleged cocaine smuggling operation has died. The gunplay that broke out Friday evening also left one suspect dead and another officer injured. The incident occurred when state and local officers raided a home in the small community of Madison, about 12 miles west of Woodland on Interstate 505. James H. McKnight, 39, an officer in West Sacramento since 1987, died Saturday at UC Medical Center in Sacramento.

A West Sacramento police officer who was shot in the head during a drug raid on an alleged cocaine smuggling operation has died. The gunplay that broke out Friday evening also left one suspect dead and another officer injured. The incident occurred when state and local officers raided a home in the small community of Madison, about 12 miles west of Woodland on Interstate 505. James H. McKnight, 39, an officer in West Sacramento since 1987, died Saturday at UC Medical Center in Sacramento.

Crews worked to unload fuel tanks on a 90-foot fishing boat seized in a drug raid off the coast in the Bay Area so the boat could be searched for hidden compartments, the Coast Guard said. No contraband was immediately found on the boat, which was seized off Half Moon Bay and towed to San Francisco after San Mateo County sheriff's deputies spotted a suspected drug-smuggling operation along the coast, the Coast Guard said.