CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr. talked yesterday about "Operation Capsize" next to a poster that displayed the names of the people arrested and photos of the Big Island drug bust.

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Big Isle drug bust
nets 47 arrests

Four groups allegedly imported
"ice" aboard barges in containers
from California

Wiretaps helped dismantle four drug distribution organizations supplying 40 percent of the crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," on the Big Island, U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr. said yesterday.

"Operation Capsize," an ongoing joint investigation involving federal law enforcement agencies, the IRS, U.S. Postal Service and the Hawaii County Police Department has so far netted 24 pounds of ice, $429,677 cash and the arrest of 47 suspects. The four groups imported more than 200 pounds of ice into Hawaii since 2002, with a street value of more than $1 million, Kubo said.

The four Big Island drug organizations imported drugs from Northern California aboard barges hidden in empty cattle containers, in the engine block and body panel of vehicles, on couriers riding aboard passenger airplanes and through the mail.

Kubo said the group responsible for importing the most ice was headed by Audwin Aiwohi. Police raided Aiwohi's 50-acre ranch in Glenwood in May and seized $192,523 in cash, 17 firearms and 7 1/2 pounds of ice buried in containers on his property.

So far, only 19 of the 47 suspects have been charged in federal court. The others, whose actions involved less than the 50 grams of ice required for federal prosecution, could be charged in state courts. However, because Hawaii's wiretap law is more restrictive than federal law, the state cannot prosecute them using evidence obtained through the wiretaps.

State law requires the appointment of an attorney who will oppose wiretap applications when prosecutors appear before state judges seeking authorization. Federal law has no such requirement.

Federal, state and county law enforcement leaders in Hawaii lobby state legislators every year to adopt the federal wiretap law without success.

House Judiciary Chairwoman Sylvia Luke (D, Dowsett Highlands-Punchbowl) said she is reluctant to allow evidence gathered by federal law enforcement officers to enter state courts because the federal Patriot Act authorizes invasions of individual privacy not allowed under state law.