A San Gabriel Valley man was sentenced on July 24 to 87 months in federal prison for his involvement in a drug trafficking organization that attempted to export more than one metric ton of methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Australia.
Jing Tang Li, 34, of China, received the sentence from United States District Judge Wesley L. Hsu after pleading guilty in December 2025 to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. According to court documents, between February and December 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted seven shipments destined for Australia containing concealed methamphetamine. The shipments were falsely labeled as various commodities such as carpets, textiles, furniture parts, wheel hub testing equipment, and a casting machine. The companies listed as shippers were fake businesses.
In February 2023, law enforcement intercepted a shipment labeled “other carpets & other textile floor coverings” that contained two pallets with black rubber mats hiding approximately 855.5 kilograms of methamphetamine. Later that month, another package labeled “furniture leg set” was found with white metal tubes concealing about 32.5 kilograms of the drug. In June 2023, a package marked “casting machine” was examined and found to contain roughly 202.5 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Twice in August 2023, Li conspired with others to send packages described as “tooling of wheel hub testing equipment,” each containing about 102.8 kilograms of methamphetamine. Li was arrested in August 2024 outside a warehouse identified as a hub for the operation; inside his car were multiple bags holding approximately 957.7 grams of methamphetamine.
Homeland Security Investigations, United States Customs and Border Protection, and the Australian Federal Police investigated the case with assistance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Brenda N. Galván prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California serves more than nineteen million residents across seven counties and focuses on prosecuting federal criminal cases while working closely with law enforcement partners on public safety initiatives, according to the official website.