By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 31, 1990
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03
Federal agents in Newark used a cache of 11 pounds of pure heroin seized recently from a Saudi courier at Newark International Airport the largest haul of heroin imported through the airport to track down and arrest five persons believed to be major drug traffickers.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Fernandez said the monthlong investigation, dubbed “Operation Desert Horse” because of its Lebanon distribution base, eventually yielded 9 more pounds of heroin and $162,000 in cash.
The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates the 20 pounds of heroin would be worth more than $10 million on the street after its purity was diluted.
“This is a tremendous, a staggering amount of heroin. This will have a noticeable impact on the availability of heroin on the street,” Fernandez said.
“The defendants here were at the very source of the stream. They were at the top of the pyramid because they were the ones receiving this very pure heroin from the courier.”
Facing charges of conspiracy to import and distribute heroin are Walid El-Homeidi of Saudi Arabia; Samir Tehfe, a Lebanese national who lives in Guttenberg; Mohammed Hamye, also a Lebanese national, of Long Island; Benny Rodriguez of North Bergen; and Carlos Solis Payano and Angel Payano, both citizens of the Dominican Republic and residents of New York City.
All the defendants, now being held in the Union County Jail, face maximum life sentences and $4 million fines, Fernandez said. U.S. District Judge H. Lee Sarokin on Monday ordered the men held without bail pending trial.
Josephine Chouberrian, 38, and her 26-year-old sister, Jacqueline Minassian, of Watertown, Mass., in whose home the additional nine pounds of heroin was seized, and Fouad Gharib, a Canadian citizen, are due to be transferred to New Jersey to face charges in connection with the case, Fernandez said.
U.S. Customs and DEA agents in Newark began investigating on Oct. 7, after inspectors noticed that the sides of a suitcase carried by El-Homeidi, 28, were unusually thick, said Robert Van Etten, Customs special agent in charge.
An examination of the suitcase uncovered about 11 pounds of packaged heroin secreted in its sides, Van Etten said.
After El-Homeidi’s arrest on Oct. 7, Customs and DEA agents lured Tehfe, 31, and Rodriquez, 52, to a hotel in Newark to pick up the heroin on Oct. 13, when they were arrested. Fernandez declined to say how officials were led to Hamye and the Payano brothers.
Caption: PHOTO – JOHN DECKER / THE RECORD – Customs agents, from left, Robert E. Van Etten, Mark Shanley, and Kathleen Haage at Newark International Airport with nearly $170,000 in cash and 11 pounds of heroin, the largest-ever drug seizure at the airport.
ID: 17321490 | Copyright © 1990, The Record (New Jersey)
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