BreakingDown Contestant Caught Smuggling Cocaine Inside Shohei Ohtani Bat

The individual accused of smuggling illegal drugs turned out to be a well-known martial artist with a history of participating in BreakingDown.

On June 18, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics and Firearms Division arrested Kasai Villanueva Edolardo Yoshihiro (40), an unemployed Peruvian national living in Yachiyo City, Chiba Prefecture, on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Law (importation for profit). He is alleged to have smuggled approximately 1.8 kilograms of cocaine—with a street value of about 47 million yen—from the United States to Narita Airport via international cargo.

“Kasai is also a martial artist known under the name Yoshihiro Kasai. He has a background in boxing and Brazilian judo. In November 2021, he competed in the martial arts event BreakingDown, where he scored a KO victory over a karate practitioner. He often boasted to those around him, saying things like, ‘I’m too violent, too strong,’ trying to show off his combat prowess,” said a sports newspaper reporter.

Hollowed out inside

The alleged smuggling incident involving Kasai took place on July 18 of last year, and his method was particularly sophisticated.

“The approximately 1.8 kilograms of cocaine were discovered during a customs inspection by Tokyo Customs. The drugs were concealed inside 11 hollowed-out wooden baseball bats, and remarkably, the bats were decorated with illustrations of Shohei Ohtani. To further camouflage the shipment, it was packaged together with seven baseball gloves.

The baseball equipment concealing the cocaine had been shipped from the United States to an apartment in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo. Kasai was formally sent to prosecutors on June 20 (see related images). The police have not disclosed whether Kasai has admitted to the charges,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social affairs desk.

Former Kanagawa Prefectural Police detective and crime journalist Taihei Ogawa offered the following analysis:

“This was a clever crime, exploiting the popularity of Shohei Ohtani and Major League Baseball. It wouldn’t seem suspicious for someone to attend a game in the U.S. and then ship baseball goods back to Japan as cargo. Using an apartment in Tokyo rather than his own home as the destination shows clear experience and caution. Given how calculated the method was, there’s a strong possibility the suspect has been involved in repeated offenses.”

Police suspect Kasai was involved in the domestic distribution of the illegal drugs as well and are continuing their investigation into the source and trafficking routes.