Local News in Brief : Acquittal in Heroin Case
A Hong Kong businessman has been acquitted on charges of smuggling $25 million worth of “China white” heroin into Long Beach Harbor aboard a freighter.
Charn Kwan Wong, 43, was found innocent in Los Angeles federal court on three counts of an indictment that charged him with importing 31 pounds of high-grade heroin found in the cabin of a cargo ship that sailed into the harbor on Nov. 24.
Wong, a Hong Kong food exporter, claimed throughout the three-day trial that he had hired an intermediary, Wing Wah Tin, to help him smuggle valuable Chinese antiquities into the country but claimed that there was never any discussion of importing heroin.
Tin was arrested near the Queen Mary, where he had arranged to meet Wong, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import heroin.
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