Taghizadeh

We must decide whether customs officials improperly searched incoming foreign mail at Los Angeles International Airport.

I

On February 26, 1991, United States Customs Agents at Los Angeles International Airport took note of a package arriving from Turkey and addressed to “Ken Mondal” at a post office box in Irvine, California. Agent Paul Queja opened the package and found 75 sticks of opium, each about six inches long. Customs agents then resealed the package, delivered it to the Irvine post office, and caused a Notice of Delivery to be placed in Kamyar Taghizadeh’s post office box. When Taghizadeh picked up the package, law enforcement officers followed him home. Taghizadeh let them come inside to discuss the package, waived his Miranda rights, and consented to a search of his home.

To explain his possession of the package addressed to Ken Mondal, Taghizadeh said he was keeping it for a friend by that name who was in Germany. In what must have been an awkward moment for Taghizadeh, the agents showed him “Ken Mondal’s” driver’s license, which had Taghizadeh’s photograph and address on it. Taghizadeh then admitted that Ken Mondal was his alias, that he knew the package contained…