Chiba: Canadians accused of smuggling 50 kg of stimulant drugs on same day

CHIBA (TR) – A pair of Canadian nationals on Monday were prosecuted for attempting to smuggle nearly 50 kilograms of stimulant drugs into Japan last month in separate incidents, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Mar. 11).

On February 17, Jonathan Isabelle, a 21-year-old employee at a fish shop, arrived at Narita International Airport on a flight from Montreal with two suitcases allegedly containing 30 plastic bags containing kakuseizai, or stimulant drugs.

According to the Narita International Airport Police Station and customs officials, the bags, each weighing about 1 kilogram, were wrapped with clothes inside the suitcases. The contraband has an estimated street value of 1.8 billion yen.

Isabelle, who has been accused of violating the Stimulants Control Law, told police that he was “paid large compensation from a customer to transport the suitcases.”

The drugs were found after a customs official found something suspicious with the suspect’s passport and searched his bags.

The seizure is the biggest from the luggage of a passenger on record. Last April, officials seized 29.5 kilograms from a passenger arriving at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on a flight from Kenya.

From Vancouver

In a separate case, Linda Clark, 57, who is also Canadian, was prosecuted for allegedly attempting to smuggle 16.75 kilograms of the same drug through the same airport on the same day, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Mar. 11).

Clark arrived at Narita airport on a flight from Vancouver. The contraband has an estimated street value of nearly 1.1 billion yen. Police do not suspect that the cases are related.

The combined seizure of approximately 47 kilograms represents 90 percent of the total confiscated at the airport all of last year, police said.