KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a 44-year-old man over the alleged cultivation of more than 200 marijuana plants inside an apartment building in Yokohama City, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 15).
On Tuesday, police found 208 marijuana plants — valued at around 20.8 million yen — inside eight units leased by Kiyokazu Kawasaki, of no known occupation.
Officers also seized a variety of equipment, including special lighting, and fertilizer used in the cultivation.
According to police, the eight units occupy the entirety of the third floor of the building, located in Naka Ward.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of cultivating marijuana for the purpose of sale the following day, Kawasaki partially denied the allegations. “I grew [the plants], but it was not for money-making purposes,” the suspect was quoted by police.
A search of Kawasaki’s residence revealed that 500 grams of dried marijuana and marijuana plants in the process of being dried, police said.
Police are now investigating how Kawasaki obtained the plants.
