TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday busted a shop in Shinjuku Ward for selling so-called “dangerous drugs” (kiken doragu), reports TV Asahi (Dec. 4).
Officers took Yoshiaki Tazaki, a 44-year-old employee of shop Heaven, located in the Kabukicho red-light district, into custody for the sale of two pouches of dangerous drugs for 3,400 yen.
Officers also seized approximately 100 pouches containing three types of dangerous drugs, according to TV Tokyo (Dec. 4).
Tazaki has reportedly denied the allegations. “I didn’t know substances designated as drugs were inside (the pouches),” the suspect is quoted, according to Nippon News Network (Dec. 4).
Police officers had previously warned employees at Heaven about violations in writing and in person.
Previously described by the term dappo (or law-evading), dangerous drugs include chemical substances considered both legal and illegal. Users of the products, which are in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, feel a sense of a sense of euphoria, similar to that obtained from stimulants or cannabis.
An office of the Daisho-kai organized crime group, an affiliate gang of the Sumiyoshi-kai, is located inside the same building as Heaven.
Earlier this year, musician Aska, who in September received a suspended three-year prison sentence for drug charges, told police that he had purchased illegal substances from the “Shinjuku Pharmacy,” which is a reference to the gangster office.
Police are now investigating whether there is a connection between the Daisho-kai and Heaven.
