TOKYO (TR) – Police have made an eighth arrest in the bust of a large operation that trafficked so-called “dangerous drugs,” reports Fuji News Network (Mar. 10).
On June 8, 2016, an anti-organized crime division of the police seized 185 kilograms of dangerous drugs, which provide users with hallucinatory effects similar to illegal narcotics, at a residence in Nerima Ward rented by 35-year-old Katsumi Yoneya.
Police estimated the contraband to have a street value of 3.6 billion yen. In January, police announced the arrest of six suspects, including Yoneya, for allegedly storing the drugs for the purpose of sale.
In the latest development, police on Saturday arrested Ushio Okiyama on the same charges. He is believed to be the ringleader of the operation. “I only possessed [the drugs] to dump them,” the suspect was quoted by police in denying the allegations, according to TBS News (Mar. 10).
In February, the Kanto Narcotics Control Department made the seventh arrest, apprehending Junichi Kanda, 38, who is believed to have sold drugs in the operation, during a raid in which an unspecified amount of contraband was seized.
Kanda peddled dangerous drugs and elements of narcotic drugs on the site Aroma Market. Since September of last year, his business has accumulated 35 million yen in sales.
In 2014, Japan banned the possession and use of dangerous drugs. The seizure in Nerima is the largest on record, police said.
