CNN: Narita Customs spike HK passenger’s bag with cannabis
Posted by debito on May 27th, 2008
Hi Blog. I think this is perhaps the most ridiculous story on Japan I’ve heard this decade.
According to CNN, Narita Customs put a bag of marijuana in some visiting NJ’s bag to test their sniffer dogs. Then they lose track of it!
Now just imagine if that innocent NJ was later caught with it. We’re talking Nick Baker (finally sent back to the UK after 6 years in Japanese jail) and other NJ judicial hostages (who can never leave custody or be granted bail until they go through years of slow Japanese jurisprudence, even when judged innocent).
Of course, we make sure we cause meiwaku to none of our tribe–we use the Gaijin as Guinea Pig all over again. Yokoso Japan!
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Customs slip cannabis into passenger’s bag
CNN May 26, 2008 — Updated 1641 GMT (0041 HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/26/tokyo.cannabis/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Courtesy of Chad Edwards
(CNN) – A passenger who landed at Tokyo’s Narita airport over the weekend has ended up with a surprise souvenir courtesy of customs officials — a package of cannabis.
Sniffer dogs failed to find the cannabis after it had been slipped into a passenger’s bag.
A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as part of an exercise for sniffer dogs on Sunday, Reuters.com reported.
However, staff then lost track of the drugs and suitcase during the exercise, a spokeswoman for Tokyo customs said.
Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official had used passengers’ suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported.
Tokyo customs has asked anyone who finds the package to return it.
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May 27th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I always use TSA-approved locks on my luggage, but this story (combined with the Nick Baker saga), makes me want to use my own locks–and let them rip open the bag. At least there would be something to question.
Now watch somebody *try* to return the package back to the police…
May 27th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Man, where can we go with this? [Astonished foreign traveler to immigration inspector] “No, really…someone put that in my luggage! Actually, it was you!”
*Tokyo customs has asked anyone who finds the package to return it*
“Yeah, sure…I’ll get right back to you on that. First, though, anyone seen the chips? I got the munchies in a big way.”
May 27th, 2008 at 10:53 am
FEEDBACK FROM CYBERSPACE:
Yeah, I’m still quite shocked about it. Actually, an NJ being caught
with it in Japan is actually in a favorable situation — the media
buzz here would make it easier to clear your name. What if, however,
the passenger who had this stuff slipped into his/her bag continued on
to, say, Singapore? Or Hong Kong? Or somewhere else where drug
smuggling laws are extremely severe? The Japanese customs officials
could easily ruin someone’s entire life with this kind of stunt. I
hope everyone involved is fired immediately; this is just absolutely
unacceptable.