TOKYO (TR) – In a joint investigation, Tokyo and Shizuoka police have arrested two persons, including a member of a criminal syndicate, over the alleged smuggling of stimulant drugs inside a pair of desks, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 27).
On January 17, a Tokyo Customs official detected an unspecified amount of kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs, concealed inside the desks upon their arrival at Narita International Airport from the United Arab Emirates.
Customs officials then swapped out the contraband in favor of another material and sent the desks to the intended address in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Police later arrested Taiki Yamazaki, a 32-year-old member of the Kyokuto-kai, and the second suspect on suspicion of smuggling. Both suspects deny the allegations, police said.
The desks, weighing a combined 400 kilograms, departed UAE on December 23. After the customs official noticed a white powder near where a leg connects to the top plate of desk, an X-ray was conducted.
