1.   Express Shipping owner Leonid Ivanutenko pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the smuggling scheme.

2.   Meanwhile, U.S. investigators are working with their counterparts in the Mexican states of Sonora and Veracruz to find others involved in the smuggling scheme.

3.   Ms. Ingalls noted a second clever rationale behind the smuggling scheme.

4.   Although McCormick is now in the clear, the two-year probe into the smuggling scheme continues.

5.   Several Chinese officials and others have been convicted or implicated in the smuggling scheme, with news reports saying some have been sentenced to death.

6.   Thai immigration police will investigate whether their fellow officers were involved in the smuggling scheme, an investigator said Saturday.