NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – ZIHANG ZENG (“ZENG”), age 24, a resident of China, pled guilty on May 13, 2026, before United States District Judge Greg G. Guidry to conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, a mixture and substance containing one hundred (100) kilograms or more of a detectable amount of marijuana, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B), and 846, announced the U.S. Attorney's Office. According to court documents, on April 14, 2025, DEA Special Agents observed Yilei Zhou pick up Hanjie Wu, a known marijuana distributor, from an airport in Houston, Texas and drive him to a residence in Katy, Texas, where they picked up ZENG, then drove to Denham Springs, Louisiana. The following day, two other individuals, Wei Bin Chen and Like Chen, left the Denham Springs residence and traveled to a nearby storage facility where they retrieved multiple large trash bags from a storage unit before driving to another storage facility in Slidell, Louisiana. Zhou and Wu then drove to same facility in Slidell where they all met with an individual identified as Aaron Steele. Wei Bin and Like Chen then loaded the large trash bags into Steele’s vehicle and all parties left the storage facility.Forrest County Sheriff’s deputies conducted a traffic stop of Chen’s vehicle on Interstate 59 headed towards Hattiesburg, Mississippi. A consensual search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of approximately 43.5 kilograms of marijuana.Mississippi Police Department officers conducted a traffic stop of Steele’s vehicle on Interstate 59 in Picayune, Mississippi. A consensual search of his vehicle resulted in the seizure of approximately 22.7 kilograms of marijuana.Based on the seizures that occurred in Slidell and Mississippi, Livingston Parish officers obtained search warrants for the residence and storage facility in Denham Springs. When the officers arrived at the residence, ZENG ran from the residence and was arrested. Inside the residence, officers located $1,552.00 in currency, hundreds of rubber bands, a vacuum sealer and a money counter. From the storage unit, officers seized 38.5 kilograms of marijuana.On the drug conspiracy count, ZENG faces a minimum term of imprisonment of five (5) years, a maximum term of imprisonment of forty (40) years, a fine of up to $5,000,000.00, at least four (4) years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment and a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.00.The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, Forrest County Mississippi Sheriff’s Office, and the Picayune, Mississippi Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys André Jones and Nolan D. Paige of the Narcotics Unit.This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States…
Source: U.S. Department of Justice