SAITAMA (TR) – As a part of an investigation that spanned one year, law enforcement has arrested six Vietnamese men and women for allegedly cultivating and possessing approximately 2,000 marijuana plants in three prefectures.
According to police, a 450-square-meter one-story warehouse in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, was used by the suspects as one of the largest marijuana growing factories in Japan. The interior was equipped with lights and blowers for cultivation, and the perimeter was surrounded by white boards, perhaps to prevent it from being seen from the outside.
After seizing around 1,500 plants in April, Saitama Prefectural Police arrested the six Vietnamese nationals, including Dinh Trung Phuong, 32, on suspicion of violating the Cannabis Control Law. The suspects are accused of cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale at the warehouse.
The six are believed to be a part of a marijuana trafficking group. The existence of the ring surfaced when plants were discovered after a fire broke out inside another warehouse in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture in May of last year.
The course of the investigation led to additional discoveries in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture and the aforementioned location in Koga, which Dinh had rented out since last September.
Thus far, police have seized approximately 2,000 marijuana plants with a street value of 500 million yen. The investigation is now turning toward the distribution route of the marijuana plants as well as clarification of the inner workings of the trafficking group.
