TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three Filipino women over the alleged smuggling of cocaine inside shampoo bottles, reports Jiji Press (Jan. 21).
According to police, the suspects include 47-year-old Susan Tatebe, a resident of Hachioji City, and 34-year-old Ann Alcobendas.
“A foreigner requested that I receive a package. I was paid 500,000 yen. I didn’t know the content [of the package],” Tatebe told police in denying the allegations.
The other two Filipino women also deny the charges, police said.
In December, the bottles arrived from the Philippines via the international mail at Narita International Airport inside two separate packages. One of them included candy and other items to go along with the shampoo bottles.
After discovering the cocaine inside one package — weighing about 666 grams and valued at around 13.3 million yen — Tokyo Customs replaced it with another material.
Police arrested Tatebe and the third suspect for receiving that package on January 7.
Police arrested Alcobendas over the second package last month. The bottles in the second package contained about 350 grams of cocaine.
Police believe that the three suspects are members of a drug trafficking ring.
