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Cambodia: Japanese man handed 25-year prison term for smuggling stimulant drugs

CAMBODIA (TR) – A court here has handed a 72-year-old Japanese man a 25-year prison term for smuggling stimulant drugs earlier this year, according to media reports.

At the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday, Shunichi Nonaka was convicted of trafficking and smuggling about 1.7 kilograms of kakuseizai, or methamphetamine.

On February 15, customs officials found the luggage of Nonaka to contain the methamphetamine, wrapped in plastic bags, at Phnom Penh International Airport.

The discovery happened during an X-ray examination of Nonaka’s suitcase before he boarded a flight for Seoul. He was then scheduled to continue on to Japan.

On February 15, customs officials found 1.7 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in the luggage of Nonaka at Phnom Penh International Airport (Twitter)

At the time of his arrest, local media reported that police believed Nonaka had been hired by a Ghanaian man living in Japan to transport the drugs.

Nonaka received the contraband from another man living in Phnom Penh after he arrived in the country on February 11.

Police suspected that the smuggling operation was the work of a trafficking ring.