A 38-year-old woman was arrested after more than 5,500 grams of opium was delivered to her home, the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security contacted Barrow deputies earlier this month about a suspicious package being shipped from Laos, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“The U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned the package during transit in Chicago, Illinois, and detected the presence of the package’s illegal contents,” the Sheriff’s Office said in an emailed statement. “Customs then notified the Department of Homeland Security, who in turn notified the Sheriff’s Office.”
Deputies worked with the Postal Service to determine when the package would be delivered to an Auburn address. The resident, De Yang, accepted the package and had opened it when deputies executed a search warrant at the home, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Inside the Oak Ridge home, deputies seized more than 5,500 grams of opium, which was packaged in more than 200 individual packets. The street value of the drugs is about $2.2 million, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Yang was arrested and charged with possession of opium, possession of opium with intent to distribute, and trafficking in opium, the Sheriff’s Office said. Opium is a controlled substance in Georgia and is also the primary ingredient in heroin. Yang was being held Monday without bond.
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