January 20, 2010 Chicago Airport
35 Kilos of opium, disguised as tea twigs & leaves seized by Customs

United States Customs and Border Protection Officer and his canine partner, “Rambo” identified four packages at the Chicago O’Hare Foreign Mail Facility that contain potential contraband. Upon opening the packages the officers found 273 plastic bags with 35 kilograms of opium in them. The opium was disguised by being soaked and dried onto twigs and packed with dry leaves. The packages were labeled, “Hmong Traditional Medicine Tea” and were coming from Laos with a final destination of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon field testing the saturated twigs, it was confirmed that it was indeed opium and not tea.