UB Student Sentenced On Drug Importation Charge

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Adam Brzozowski, 23, of Queens, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to import alprazolam, was sentenced to time served (approximately six months) and one year of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wei Xiang, who handled the case, stated that Brzozowski and co-defendants Zhe Wang, and Kevin Szura, all UB students, imported shipments of pills or “bars” containing alprazolam, which is commonly known as Xanax, from Canada to Amherst, NY. In March 2016, law enforcement agents intercepted two packages addressed to Brzozowski that each contained nearly 3,000 Xanax bars. Wang and Szura ordered the drugs on dark net marketplaces via payment in bitcoins. The conspirators are estimated to have unlawfully imported upwards of 80,000 bars over the course of a year, which they largely sold locally.

Wang was convicted and sentenced to 24 months in prison. Szura has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing.

Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector-in-Charge Shelly Binkowski.