Drug Smugglers’ Tricks and Cannabis Temptation
Case Files of Narcotics G-men (5)
Former narcotics officer Ryōji Takahama (77) writes about drug smuggling enforcement in the second part of his series. In this fifth installment, he details two of the four smuggling methods: personal import and international mail, along with actual cases of crackdowns.
The method of smuggling drugs by concealing them inside a human
As a unique case of hand-carried drug importation, there is a method in which drugs are swallowed for smuggling. This technique has been used repeatedly since my time in active duty and is still in practice today.
A recent example occurred in December 2019 (Reiwa 1), when a member of a large-scale organized crime syndicate attempted to smuggle approximately 150 grams of methamphetamine into Kansai International Airport from Guangdong Province, China. He had divided the drugs into seven small rubber pouches (about 5 cm in length), similar to condoms, and swallowed them to conceal them in his large intestine. However, he suffered convulsions mid-flight and was rushed to a hospital after landing, where a CT scan revealed the drugs. During questioning, he admitted, “A Chinese woman asked me to do it for a reward of 200,000 yen.”
Additionally, methamphetamine and cocaine can be dissolved in liquid, allowing them to be smuggled by dissolving them into already-colored liquids such as whiskey or chili oil. If smuggling is successful, the drugs can be extracted by boiling the liquid.
Drugs can be concealed in anything—coffee beans, handicrafts, empty bags, and more. There have been cases where unsuspecting travelers were approached by kind people, such as tour guides or locals, and asked, “Could you deliver this gift to a friend in Japan?” without knowing that drugs were hidden inside. Some criminals deliberately befriend travelers with hidden motives, trying to use them as drug couriers.
One Japanese man responded to a recruitment ad on a website that promised, “If you write a travel diary, you can travel for free and receive a reward.” He traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, and on the following day, an Iranian man visited his accommodation. The man asked him, “Can you carry this suitcase to Frankfurt in western Germany?” and handed him a suitcase along with $2,000.
Inside the suitcase were strangely stiff, frozen-like clothes. Suspicious, the Japanese man contacted the Japanese embassy, which then alerted the local police. The Iranian man was arrested. The clothes weighed 5.8 kg and had been soaked with methamphetamine. Additionally, about 2.3 kg of methamphetamine crystals were hidden inside the suitcase. This Japanese man narrowly avoided being turned into an unwitting drug courier.
Furthermore, smuggling techniques continue to evolve in sophistication and variety. There is even a method known as the love connection scheme, where a Japanese woman, met through a dating site, is manipulated into becoming a drug recipient under the guise of a romantic relationship.
A Controlled Delivery Operation That Nearly Ended in Failure?
The fourth method of smuggling, international mail, is handled through controlled delivery investigations. Currently, the aforementioned illicit drug detection devices are in use. Prior to the advent of this equipment, X-ray machines were the mainstay, and sometimes drug-sniffing dogs played the role.
International mail crimes have also been occurring since my time in the field, and this is no different today. The drugs involved ranged from methamphetamine to marijuana, cocaine, MDMA, and even dangerous drugs. There are three cases that remain vivid in my memory.
The first was the smuggling of marijuana by two Brazilians via international mail on multiple occasions in 2003. The marijuana was found between postcards in regular airmail. In the case of the Brazilians, the mail was delivered to a mailbox in a vacant apartment in Shiga Prefecture, but no one knew who the recipients were. After a persistent investigation, two Brazilians surfaced and were arrested.
The second case involved the smuggling of approximately 600 grams of marijuana resin counterfeit in crayons from Thailand by a Japanese man in his 40s living in Kyoto City. In this case, an international parcel was used, took the postal route, and was delivered to the destination in the early morning hours. However, time passed without any further activity, and it was almost dusk when we made a hasty raid on the residence. However, the parcel was left unopened and in a messy state at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor.
The mere fact that it was left unopened does not corroborate the connection between the occupants of this room and the crayon-shaped marijuana resin. However, during a subsequent search of the room, approximately 10 grams of marijuana was found. That was a major piece of evidence. As the conductor, I gained confidence that even if the man denied the existence of the marijuana resin, there would be no problem with the trial. In the end, we were able to settle both cases by catching him red-handed in possession of the marijuana resin in the parcel and the marijuana from the room. This was a very successful case, and for that reason it is still a very memorable offense for me.
Marijuana weed embedded in a candle and mailed
In the third case, two Japanese women in their 20s living in Osaka and Tokyo smuggled marijuana from the United Kingdom, where they were studying, to Japan. Customs officials at the Kansai International Airport’s Foreign Post Office noticed something suspicious in an international mail package and, as usual, examined it with an X-ray scanner. They found approximately 10 grams of marijuana grass embedded in a 7 cm cubic block of candles.
The delivery was to the residence of a woman, A, living in Osaka. I was waiting for the woman to return to Japan at Kansai Airport, when A came back to Japan with a woman, B, who lived in Tokyo. I immediately arrested A for marijuana smuggling and searched her residence, where I found an international mail package in the same form as the one seized at Kansai Airport. Upon examining the contents on the spot, it was discovered that the marijuana plants were hidden inside the candles.
According to the interrogation, A and B went to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to purchase marijuana weed for themselves at a government-approved cafe that sold marijuana. They then smoked in the dormitory. As their return to Japan approached, they hesitated to dispose of the remaining marijuana plants and finally decided to bring them back to Japan.
The women remembered candles that had been sold in America Village, Osaka, and planned to hide the marijuana plants in them. They hollowed out a candle they had purchased in London and hid the marijuana plant in it, then covered it with the original candle. The four pieces of international mail were then sent to Japan from the city’s post office. One of them was found at Kansai Airport.
After A, B was also arrested, but while several days were needed to establish the evidence, his father had already disposed of two pieces of international mail that had already been delivered. Therefore, it was not possible to seize them.
This case was a smuggling case committed by amateur women who wanted to smoke marijuana in Japan. I felt as if I had caught a glimpse into the lives of these women who had been driven mad by the magical power of marijuana, and I felt indescribable. This is something that is still etched in my mind to this day.
PHOTO.： Racool_studio/Freepik
