Chinese nationals accused of smuggling synthetic drugs into US prisons on drug-soaked paper

Two Chinese nationals were arrested in China after allegedly supplying synthetic drugs that prosecutors say were imported into the United States and later distributed to inmates at federal and state prisons nationwide.

Lisa Xing, 36, and Zhanwen Song, 38, were charged in a superseding federal indictment in the Eastern District of Texas with drug trafficking and money laundering offenses tied to an alleged scheme that allegedly supplied synthetic opioids, cannabinoids and other drugs from China for distribution in U.S. correctional facilities.

FBI Director Kash Patel touted the case in a post on X, writing that the defendants allegedly trafficked "dangerous synthetic drugs from China into the United States — including smuggling them into our prison systems."

"This FBI and our Homeland Security Task Force partners will keep finding and disrupting these networks wherever they operate," Patel wrote. "Great work by @FBIDallas and our law enforcement partners."

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According to prosecutors, Xing and Song shipped synthetic drugs to co-defendants Adell Willis of Texas and Judy Ly of Michigan, who allegedly dissolved the drugs into liquid, soaked sheets of paper in the mixture and mailed them to inmates in federal and state prisons across the country.

Willis and Ly were indicted in May on charges, including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

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"The indictment alleges that a China-based supplier and a domestic distributor worked together to bring deadly synthetic drugs into the United States for distribution across the country," U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs said.

The Justice Department said China's Ministry of Public Security arrested Xing, Song and 19 additional alleged co-conspirators, seized 475 kilograms of synthetic cannabinoids and shut down four illicit manufacturing sites. Officials said the investigation was coordinated through an FBI-Chinese Ministry of Public Security counternarcotics working group established earlier this year.

If convicted, each defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life behind bars.