AUTHORITIES SEIZE 923 POUNDS OF CLEVERLY CONCEALED OPIUM IN OAKLAND

The opium was found inside almost everything, from tool parts and rattan
stool frames to hollowed-out chopping boards and cans of curry paste.

All told, some 923 pounds of the drug -- valued at $7.9 million -- were
expertly hidden in 88 packages sent since June to the U.S. Postal Service's
mail facility in Oakland, the largest postal center on the West Coast.

Despite the handiwork, the U.S. Customs Service intercepted the shipments,
which were mailed from Laos and Thailand and destined for points throughout
California and Washington.

At a news conference in Oakland yesterday, customs and postal officials
displayed some of the confiscated opium and announced the arrests of four
people who were to receive the shipments. Even as the officials spoke,
inspectors seized another package containing 15 pounds of the reddish-brown
drug.

Authorities grudgingly admitted that the opium, made from the juice of the
opium poppy, was well-camouflaged in some of the most unlikely places.

Among other things, it was hidden in wooden looms and buttons, soaked into
bags of wood chips and clothing and wrapped in packages of tea and herbal
medicine.

"It's really phenomenal the lengths they went to secrete the narcotics,"
said Thomas O'Brien, assistant port director of trade operations for the
Customs Service.

"They're very innovative," agreed Wayne Yamashita, a Customs Service
assistant special agent in charge. "Once we seem to catch onto one
particular mode of smuggling, they'll switch to something else."

The 923 pounds seized is a significant amount, "given the fact that in many
years we don't seize that much in an entire 12-month period," Yamashita said.

So far this year, customs officials have seized 1,188 pounds of opium at the
Oakland mail facility, compared with 363 pounds in 1998 and 175 pounds in
1997. One pound of opium is worth nearly $9,000 on the street.

The Postal Service sends all incoming foreign mail shipments to the Customs
Service for examination. Once suspicious packages are weeded out, customs
officials try to identify who ordered and who planned to receive the shipments.

Arrested during the investigation were Mai Vang, 25, of Merced; Weun Saelee,
43, of Redding; Vern Saetern, 46, of West Sacramento; and Farm Saetern, 44,
of West Sacramento. All face a state charge of possession of opium for sale.

(c)1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A18