TOKYO (TR) – The amount of stimulant drugs seized nationwide by customs officials in 2019 was more than three times the year before, Tokyo Customs said on Wednesday, reports TBS News (Feb. 13).
Last year, officials seized 1,771 kilograms of kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs, in 302 cases. The contraband had a street value of 106.3 billion yen.
The amount seized is 3.5 times that for 2018, making it the highest since statistics started being kept in 1985, the office said.
The biggest bust on record took place last June, when police seized 1 ton of stimulant drugs from a boat in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Packed in bags weighing between two and three kilograms, the drugs were valued at around 60 billion yen, police said previously.
Tokyo Customs is now upping measures to patrol suspected smuggling routes along Japan’s coasts. In recent cases, smugglers have concealed stimulant drugs inside everything from statues to the collars and hems of costumes.
