TOKYO: Japanese customs authorities have claimed that we seized 630 kilograms of illegal drugs last year such as stimulants, cannabis and cocaine. The figure was down 37 percent from the previous year, but an official at the ministry’s Customs and Tariff Bureau said the seized amount remained high following a surge of large-volume smuggling in 2013.
In 2014, the authorities seized 549 kg of stimulants, down 36 percent, accounting for 90 percent of the total in 174 cases — the second-highest ever. For cannabis, the seized amount increased sixfold and the number of cases doubled. More young people may have shifted back to cannabis in the wake of tightening regulations on quasi-legal drugs that have been deemed dangerous, a ministry official said.
Smugglers using airlines were held in 171 cases, up 27 percent, with a particular increase in the number of Thai women in their 20s to 30s who smuggled stimulants by air. According to the ministry, the rise apparently reflects recruitment of young female drug runners in Thailand by foreign criminal organizations. Also behind the increase may be Japan’s visa exemption from July 2013 for short-term travelers from Thailand, the official said.
