NIIGATA (TR) – A court here has handed prison terms to two men for smuggling 16 kilograms of stimulant drugs into Japan two years ago, reports NHK (June 15).
At the Niigata District Court on Tuesday, presiding judge Hidehiko Sato handed a 31-year-old Yuki Saito a 12-year prison term and fined him 5 million yen.
Meanwhile, the judge handed his accomplice, age 26, a 7-year term and fined him 1.5 million yen.
“You played an indispensable role in an organized crime ring,” the judge said of Saito. “With only illogical excuses, you show no signs of remorse.”
For the accomplice, the judge said, “You played an important role in receiving the luggage.”
According to the ruling, the pair smuggled the drugs — with a street value of around 960 million yen — from Canada in October 2019.
Both defendants live in Niigata City Chuo’s Ward. Saito is an employee at a commercial sex (fuzoku) parlor.
During the trial, Saito partially denied the allegations, saying he “didn’t know” about the stimulant drugs. His accomplice claimed he was innocent.
