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Tokyo cops nab Chinese man over drug ‘bakugai’

Yang Guolong
Yang Guolong

TOKYO (TR) – A Chinese man was arrested for making unauthorized purchases of prescription drugs with the intent to resell them for profit, authorities said on Friday.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police announced the arrest on Friday of Yang Guolong, 28, who is unemployed and lives in the Tsukuda area of Chuo Ward, for violating the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 13).

According to authorities, Guolong collected at least 10 million yen in sales since last July by selling drugs to some 120 Chinese tourists who were visiting Japan to engage in “bakugai,” or explosive buying, a buzzword frequently used by Japanese media to refer to Chinese tourists going on spending sprees.

Police said the suspect purchased some 28,000 quantities of 69 kinds of drugs, including vitamin pills and tranquilizers, without permission on Wednesday and stored them at his residence with the intent to resell them.

Yang was taking orders from a social networking service popular among Chinese users, and then delivering the drugs to hotels that Chinese tourists were staying at.

The suspect admitted to the charges and said that “Japan has high-quality medication, so they were popular among Chinese people.”