SHIZUOKA (TR) – Police arrested seven Chinese nationals after a record amount of stimulant drugs was seized along the coast of the town of Minamiizu on Monday, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (June 5).
At around 9:30 p.m., officers seized one ton of kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs, from a boat along the coast. Packed in bags weighing between two and three kilograms, the contraband is valued at around 60 billion yen, police said.
Officers suspect the drugs were loaded onto the craft from another ship at sea and brought to the coast.
The seven Chinese nationals are aged between 24 and 40. Four of the suspects were apprehended upon the arrival of law enforcement. The other three were apprehended later after they fled the scene.
All of the suspects deny the allegations, telling police they “do not know” anything about the matter, police said.
According to police and Japan Coast Guard officials, the matter emerged after they received a tip about “a suspicious boat.”
The amount seized is a nationwide record. The previous record was the 600 kilograms of stimulant drugs seized by police from a yacht in Okinawa Prefecture in 2016.