Lansdale man among trio nabbed in alleged interstate marijuana scheme

A Lansdale man and two other men face felony drug charges after allegedly attempting to pick up a large shipment of marijuana — hidden inside a pallet of boxes — that was sent from California to the K’NEX toy manufacturing facility in Hatfield last month.

Nghia Binh Thach, 37, of the 600 block of Whitaker Place, along with Hieu Thach, 26, and Hai Danh, 33 — both of Camden, N.J. — have been arrested and charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and related offenses.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on April 12 police were notified by K’NEX staff that they had received a delivery of 10 boxes on a pallet, wrapped in plastic, that had been shipped from California to the factory at 2990 Bergey Road, and that paperwork associated with the shipment indicated that K’NEX was the intended receiver.

Police said the boxes contained cases of martini shakers, and further inspection revealed a total of 47 pounds of marijuana — packaged in one-pound bags — inside six of the boxes, with an estimated street value of $164,500 to $282,000.

Around 7:30 a.m. on April 16, the affidavit states, Hatfield detectives received a call from K’NEX advising them that a male was on location at the factory requesting to pick up the pallet. Police responded to the scene and took the man, Nghia Thach, into custody and, according to the affidavit, found a U-Haul Self Storage security access card in his RFID tag.

A subsequent search of the storage locker turned up an additional 15 pounds of marijuana — also packaged in one-pound bags, with a total street value of $52,500 to $90,000 — along with 115 cases of martini shakers, the affidavit states.

Around 2:20 p.m. April 18, Hatfield detectives received another call from K’NEX alerting them that two Asian men — later identified as Hieu Thach and Hai Danh — were at the facility asking to pick up the same shipment of 10 boxes, police said. When detectives arrived, the two men had departed, but a man called K’NEX shortly after, inquiring about the pallet and asking if he could send his drivers back to pick up the shipment of martini shakers; a detective got on the phone and told the caller he could send his drivers back, according to the affidavit.

Pure has made a start with its on demand service for the Avalon 300R, adding BBC iPlayer catch-up and YouTube web videos. It can’t compete with the likes of Samsung, though, as that manufacturer includes ITV player, 4OD and Demand 5 on its hard disk recorders. There’s also no Netflix or LoveFilm, which may come as a disappointment to film fans. The one saving grace could be Pure Connect, which lets you access thousands of internet radio stations, listen-again programs and podcasts, and stream music from Pure’s extensive library.

DLNA support is also included, so you’ll be able to play files stored on a networked PC or NAS device. It has fantastic file format support, too, which meant we could play all our test videos including MKV, DivX and MOV clips. You should be able to play any videos, regardless of their file type.

The Avalon 300R stands out from other PVRs with its gorgeous and intuitive interface. A picture-in-picture overlay gives you a preview of each channel as you browse through the EPG, without taking over the screen or obscuring what you’re currently watching. If you just want to see what’s on now and next, a separate menu appears from the side of the screen. There’s a small delay before you get a picture, but it’s certainly better than not being able to see it at all. Everything has a transparent background to avoid blocking as much of the currently playing channel as possible, and looks crisp on a 1080p resolution TV.

All these effects require some serious horsepower, which is why Pure has used an Intel Sodaville processor and PowerVR graphics. This would be overkill for a more restrained interface, but it proves its worth when you activate the numerous channel transitions that slip, wipe, dissolve and ripple the screen as you change to a different program. We found this rather gimmicky, and we’d rather just change as quickly as possible without having to sit through fancy effects. Thankfully, there’s an option to turn the transitions off should you prefer not to see them.

Freeview+ HD might be lacking channels compared to subscription TV services such as Sky or Virgin, but it’s steadily increasing its collection of high definition content, with BBC One HD, BBC Two HD, ITV 1 HD and Channel 4 HD all available. Unfortunately, the Avalon 300R doesn’t have a CI card slot, so you won’t be able to use it for your subscription TV services.