HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police have rearrested a 32-year-old Vietnamese national on suspicion of trafficking illicit narcotics.
The arrest follows a sprawling investigation that uncovered roughly 150 million yen worth of drugs at a suburban stash house, reports the Kobe Shimbun (Nov. 9).
According to police, the unemployed suspect of no fixed address was served a fresh warrant on Monday for violating the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act.
Investigators allege that between late April and early May, the suspect conspired with accomplices to ship commercial quantities of ketamine and MDMA from Gunma Prefecture and surrounding areas to the home of a male customer in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.
Upon his arrest, the suspect invoked his right to remain silent, telling detectives, “I will not speak.”
During the investigation, authorities raided a private residence in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture, believed to have served as an operational base for the trafficking network. Inside, officers uncovered approximately 7.5 kilograms of cannabis and around 2 kilograms of stimulants, carrying an estimated street value of 150 million yen.
Police suspect the man served as a delivery courier under the direction of an overseas ringleader, dispatching narcotics directly to street-level dealers and buyers across the country. In exchange for his services, deposits of roughly 100,000 yen were transferred weekly into his personal bank account from a financial institution in Vietnam.
The suspect was allegedly operating as part of a roving cell of seven or eight individuals who moved between safe houses throughout Saitama and Gunma prefectures. He was originally arrested in July after officers caught him with cannabis at the Honjo residence, and has already been indicted on charges relating to stimulants and narcotics possession.
