ENID COUPLE SUE UPS OVER SEARCH OF HOME

ENID -- Instead of delivering their packages, United Parcel Service
Inc. set in motion a series of events that sent police to Quynh and
Hoa Ninh's house, the couple said in a lawsuit filed Friday in
Garfield County.

Two packages contained Vietnamese tea that the couple wanted sent to
relatives in California, said William Maxwell, an Enid lawyer
representing the Ninhs.

UPS is accused of opening the packages without the couple's
permission, then calling and telling Enid police that the contents
possibly were drugs, Maxwell said. The freight carrier also is being
sued for failing to deliver the packages.

An armed tactical police team went to the couple's house and searched
for two hours, Maxwell said. The search turned up no illegal drugs, he
said. No one was arrested.

Quynh Ninh, 61, and his new wife, Hoa, 25, were terrified by the
police search, Maxwell said. Hoa Ninh had been in the United States
for 10 days when the police search occurred, he said.

The Ninhs filed four complaints against UPS and seek at least $40,000
in damages.

A UPS representative failed to return phone calls Friday.

The Ninhs took the sealed packages last June to the UPS shipping
office in Enid. The tea apparently looked the same as marijuana
leaves, and UPS contacted Enid police, Maxwell said.

Drug dogs reacted to the packages, and a field drug test done on the
contents determined a positive test for marijuana, he said.

Maxwell said basic field tests often mistake tea for marijuana.