Society

Japan record 115 kg of cocaine seized in Yokohama

Sep 01 (tokyoreporter.com) - A record amount of cocaine was seized from a freighter that arrived at the Port of Yokohama earlier this month, customs officials said on Friday, reports Kyodo News

On August 6, the freighter, which originated in Columbia, arrived in Japan after stopping in Mexico. The previous month, staff members at Yokohama Customs were tipped off about "suspicious baggage" aboard the vessel.

Officials subsequently seized a total of 115 kilograms of cocaine --- with a street value 2.3 billion yen --- from backpacks aboard the ship. The contraband was wrapped in bundles weighing 1 kilogram each.

Officials suspect that the cocaine was one part of a shipment in a smuggling operation mistakenly left aboard the ship after it left Mexico.

The seizure is the largest on record in Japan for cocaine. The previous record was 95 kilograms, which was found aboard a freighter at the same port in September, 2016.

A total of 118 kilograms of cocaine washed ashore at Yokosuka City, Kanagawa in November, 2013.

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