Illegal Chinese Immigrant Pleads Guilty to Marijuana Trafficking Conspiracy Charge

An illegal Chinese immigrant has pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking conspiracy charge involving marijuana in New Orleans.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana announced on May 15 that Zeng Zihang, 24, had pleaded guilty 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.”

Zeng was indicted in May 2025 with five others—two other illegal Chinese immigrants, Wu Hanjie and Zhou Yilei; Like Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen from China; Chen Wei Bin, a permanent U.S. resident from China; and Aaron Streele, a U.S. citizen from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

According to a court filing dated May 13, investigators began looking into the case in 2023, after identifying Wu as a suspected marijuana trafficker who traveled from California to Louisiana to distribute marijuana and “employed couriers” to collect drug proceeds and transport the money back to California.

On April 14, 2025, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents observed Zhou pick up Wu at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The pair then traveled to Zeng’s residence in Katy, Texas, picked him up, and continued to a residence in Denham Springs, Louisiana, according to a May 15 Department of Justice May press release.

The very next day, Wei Bin Chen and Like Chen left the Denham Springs residence and went to a nearby storage facility. DEA agents “observed the Chens retrieve multiple large black trash bags from the storage unit” and place them into their car, according to the court document.

Later on the same day, the four met with Steele at another storage facility in Slidell, Louisiana. DEA agents saw “a large amount of what was suspected to be marijuana” loaded into Steele’s vehicle, according to the court document.

Deputies with the Forrest County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi conducted a traffic stop on Like Chen’s vehicle along Interstate 59 near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. With Like Chen’s consent, the deputies searched his vehicle and found packages containing about 96 pounds of marijuana, according to prosecutors.

Separately, Mississippi Police Department officers found about 50 pounds of marijuana in Steele’s vehicle.

On April 16, 2025, Livingston Parish officers in Louisiana obtained search warrants for the residence and storage facility in Denham Springs.

“After no one answered the door when the officers knocked at the residence, they breached the door and secured the residence,” the court document reads.

“While officers secured the residence, Zeng ran out of the back of the residence where he was captured by officers. Officers searched Zeng and found 5.5 grams of ketamine and a snort straw in his pocket.”

Officers subsequently found $1,552 in currency in the residence and seized 85 pounds of marijuana in the storage facility, according to the court document.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Zeng faces between five and 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $5 million, and at least four years of supervised release following imprisonment.

The Epoch Times contacted Zeng’s lawyer for comment but didn’t receive a response by publication time.

In May 2025, an illegal Chinese immigrant residing in New York City was sentenced to 57 months in prison for involvement in an international money laundering and drug trafficking organization.