Minnesota women busted with 70 pounds opium at airport

Hidden in tea bags, drugs worth $3 million

CHICAGO — Customs officials seized nearly 70 pounds of opium from three Minnesota women arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on a flight from Southeast Asia. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say the three women arrived at about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday on a flight from Laos, via Japan.

Chicago police say the drugs are worth more than $3 million. Officers found 470 packets of opium concealed in bags of tea leaves and packed inside the women’s luggage. 

Police arrested the women, identified as 57-year-old Pa Yang and 58-year-old Mai Vue Vang of St. Paul, Minnesota, and 52-year-old True Thao of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.

They’re each charged with manufacturing or delivery of narcotics. At a hearing Wednesday, each woman’s bond was set at $50,000.