AICHI (TR) – Aichi Prefectural Police this week arrested three foreign nationals on suspicion of smuggling more than 200 kilograms of methamphetamine via cargo ship from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 12).
On Tuesday, police arrested Mohammed Abed, a 50-year-old British national, and Nepalese nationals Giri Kirisuna, 37, and Bhandari Sagar, 32, on suspicion of violating the Stimulants Control Act.
Prefectural police have not disclosed whether the three men have admitted to the charges.
According to police, the three men are suspected of conspiring with others to smuggle the kakuseizai (methamphetamine) into the Port of Kobe in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture on March 10. The contraband was concealed inside 132 clumps of cotton. Methamphetamine was detected in seven of them.
When extracted and analyzed, it was found that approximately 32 percent of about 1 kilogram of cotton contained methamphetamine.
Based on this, the prefectural police estimate that the total amount of smuggled methamphetamine was about 215 kilograms, which has a street value of approximately 11.4 billion yen.
A Japanese man and woman have also been arrested in the case.
Ship departed UAE
The ship departed the UAE in January. In April, the Nagoya Customs Office reported that they had discovered a container loaded with cotton containing methamphetamine at a company in Toyokawa City, Aichi.
The three men reportedly appeared at the warehouse in the prefecture where the cotton had been transported on April 21.
It is believed that Abed was a high-ranking member of a smuggling group, while the two Nepalese nationals, who live in Toyokawa, were responsible for receiving and storing the cargo.
