FUKUOKA (TR) – Police have arrested or referred to prosecutors eight males, including a 22-year-old self-proclaimed tattoo artist, for suspected violations of the Narcotics Control Law, reports Fukuoka TNC News (July 30).
Tetsuya Tsurusaki, a tattoo artist from Fukuoka City, is accused of conspiring with two 19-year-old youths in May of this year to sell marijuana and a liquid containing narcotic substances to buyers in a parking lot in Kitakyushu City for 11,000 yen.
Police have not disclosed whether the suspects have admitted to the allegations.
Investigators believe Tsurusaki was operating as the ringleader of a tokuryu crime ring, whose members communicate anonymously via smartphone apps to carry out illicit jobs.
A search of a vehicle where the marijuana was discovered yielded a sinister haul. Officers seized ski masks, extendable batons and wrenches, leading police to suspect the syndicate was gearing up to carry out further potentially violent crimes.
The eight individuals swept up in the investigation range in age from their late teens to their 40s. In addition to the dealers, police arrested three men and referred two others to prosecutors on suspicion of purchasing the drugs.
