KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested three persons suspected in the smuggling of more than 500 kilograms of methamphetamine through the Port of Yokohama earlier this year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (July 31).
On Tuesday, Kanagawa police accused Tatsuo Uchiyama, 40, a restaurant proprietor in Wakaba Ward, Chiba City, of smuggling 531 kg of kakuseizai, or methamphetamine, from Mexico to the Port of Yokohama in February.
With a street value of approximately 35 billion yen, the seizure is the largest for methamphetamine in the prefecture since 1981 and the sixth largest on record in Japan.
Kanagawa police are investigating whether the crime involved the Inagawa-kai criminal syndicate and an overseas drug ring.
The other suspects are Juan Reyes Chavez, a 49-year-old Mexican sports instructor, and skipjack Andres Felipe Gonzalez Salazar, a 28-year-old national of Colombia.
Police did not reveal whether the suspects admitted to violating the Stimulants Control Law regarding smuggling.
From Mexico
On February 28, a cargo ship arrived at the Port of Yokohama. It had departed Mexico on February 9.
Yokohama Customs examined cargo on the ship that was labelled “palm oil” with a large X-ray machine and found 106 bags filled with white methamphetamine.
On May 12, the aforementioned three suspects were among five arrested for possession of methamphetamine under the same law after they came to collect the contents of the container.
