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Pair accused of smuggling 4,000 tabs of Ecstasy in fitness equipment

In February, Tokyo Customs discovered 4,000 tabs of MDMA inside fitness equipment (Twitter)

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested two men over the alleged smuggling of 4,000 tabs of Ecstasy from France earlier this year, reports NHK (Mar. 22).

According to police, the two suspects are Tomoya Shirakawa, 20, of no known occupation, and 29-year-old Hironori Muraoka. Both suspects deny the allegations, police said.

In February, the roughly 4,000 tabs of MDMA, or Ecstasy, arrived at Haneda Airport via the international mail from France.

According to police, the contraband — with a street value of 16.2 million yen — was concealed inside the bars of fitness equipment.

Tomoya Shirakawa (Twitter)

Positive for cocaine

The package was addressed to a building in Sumida Ward. The suspects later took custody of the package.

A customs official found the tabs concealed inside the equipment during an X-ray examination.

Analyses of the urine of both suspects gave a positive result for cocaine, police said.

Shirakawa has a connection with the Inagawa-kai criminal syndicate. Police are investigating whether the smuggling operation is a source of funds for the gang.