Police pose as FedEx, deliver package to Md. home containing 8.8 pounds of opium from Iraq
DERWOOD, MD. Feb 28 2019 A Maryland State Police trooper dressed up as a FedEx delivery man during an undercover sting that led to the arrest of an alleged peddler in the international opioid epidemic.
On Feb.1, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) officer was screening incoming international packages inside FedEx’s global hub at the Memphis International Airport. As a package from Iraq entered an x-ray machine, the officer spotted an “anomaly.” The officer opened the package, which contained two wooden paintings. The officer drilled a hole in one of the paintings and found four kilos (8.8 pounds) of a brown substance hidden within. That substance tested positive for opium.
The package was addressed to a Shawn J. Shirani at a residence along Warbler Lane in Derwood, Maryland. Authorities shipped the package to the FedEx warehouse in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, where Montgomery County Police seized and brought it to their crime lab for further testing and analysis.
Around 9:30 a.m. on February 6, a Maryland State Police trooper donned a FedEx uniform and brought the package to the home along Warbler Lane. A construction worker opened the front door and explained that Shirani was not home, but typically arrived most days after 12 p.m. The undercover trooper left a FedEx door tag with a phone number so that Shirani could call to reschedule delivery.
Within 90 minutes, a man identifying himself as Ardeshir Shawn Shirani phoned the number and arranged a new delivery for Feb. 8, at 9:30 a.m.
Members of a Washington-area drug task force maintained “constant surveillance” as the state trooper returned two days later with the drug-filled package. Shirani allegedly answered the front door and took the parcel without hesitation. A team of officers later entered the home with a search warrant and arrested Shirani. The 60-year-old had $5,000 in his pants pocket. There was a second FedEx box in the home with Shirani’s name on it.
Shirani reportedly told investigators that the opium package was not his, and that he was planning to ship it back to FedEx. When asked why he would accept a mysterious package in the first place, Shirani stated he, “Just wanted to check it out.” Shirani shared that his cousin owned the Derwood home along Warbler Lane, but that he visits it on a daily basis to play Backgammon.
Authorities charged Shirani with three drug-related counts including importing a controlled dangerous substance into the state of Maryland and possession with the intent to distribute.
Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Shirani’s actual residence, a townhome along the 12000 block of Brittania Circle in Germantown. There they located two safes in the garage containing $20,000 in U.S. cash, a handful of official documents, 18 shotguns and rifles, plus a digital scale. That scale contained an unknown residue, which tested positive for opium.
Shirani has prior run-ins with law enforcement. In 2000, Baltimore County Police charged him with leaving a child unattended. In 2006, Montgomery County authorities charged him with drug possession with the intent to distribute. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser count of possession of drug paraphernalia. In May 2018, Montgomery County Police charged him with theft between $100 and $1,500. Prosecutors dropped that case two months later for undisclosed reasons.
Court records also show a handful of liens against Shirani, including an $18,000 judgment awarded to Bank of America in 2011, a 2000 case where Washington Gas was pursuing Shirani for $902, and a 2014 case where an anesthesiologist came after Shirani for $784.
Shirani — who is a native of Iran — works as a car dealer and lives with his wife. He recently posted $10,000 in the pending opium case and was released from jail. He faces up to 30 years of incarceration. No defense attorney is listed in court paperwork.
ABC7
