The Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Ryo Kobayashi, 28, from Sendai City, on suspicion of breaching the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Control Act for attempting to smuggle cocaine by swallowing a cocoon-shaped rubber ball containing cocaine. Fifty-three pieces of rubbers were found in his body, but he denied the charges, saying he didn’t know there was cocaine in his body.
According to the Anti-Drugs and Firearms Division, Kobayashi is suspected of conspiring with someone else to smuggle rubbers (1.5cm in width and 5.5cm length) containing approximately 5 grams of cocaine (terminal value: about 125,000 yen) from Toronto airport in Canada on August 26 (Canada time) by swallowing them and boarding an aircraft to Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
When a Tokyo Customs officer approached him, he claimed that he needed to go to the toilet and discharged 15 rubbers in the customs office toilet. Then he was hospitalized and a further 38 rubbers were discharged in the hospital.
When one of the rubbers was analyzed, approximately 5 grams of cocaine wrapped in plastic wrap was found inside, which led to his arrest after he was discharged from the hospital. The department will proceed with the identification of the other rubbers as they are believed to contain cocaine as well.
