MAN GETS 1-YEAR TERM FOR BRINGING IN OPIUM

A Fresno man was sentenced to a year in federal prison Tuesday for
trying to smuggle 5 kilograms of opium into the United States by
hiding it in shampoo bottles, authorities said.

Ying Her, 41, hid opium in bottles marked "Clinic Clear Daily Care
Anti-Dandruff Shampoo," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Special Agent Matthew Van Dyke wrote in an affidavit.

In June, Her pleaded guilty to simple possession of opium, a
misdemeanor.

Customs agents detained Her in April after he arrived at San Francisco
International Airport on a China Airlines flight from Taiwan.

A customs officer found the opium by inserting a probe into the
bottles, authorities said.

Her's attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Shawn Halpert, had
sought a five-month sentence, saying her client, a father of four who
spent 10 years in a Thai refugee camp, used opium to treat pain.

"He took opium for neck, head and back pain from which he suffers as a
result of prior serious car accidents and from falling out of a tree
during a farming accident when he was at the Thai refugee camp,"
Halbert wrote in court documents.