The Hindu : New Delhi News : Arrest of Japanese stuns narcotics experts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Arrest of Japanese stuns narcotics experts

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, NOV. 16. For the past several years Delhi has been one of the major transit points for domestic and international drug traffickers, especially Nigerian nationals. However, two back-to-back arrests of Japanese nationals in the past few days on charges of smuggling hashish have brought to the fore yet another disturbing development in the world of drug trafficking.

The first Japanese national, who was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport while trying to smuggle out 1.2 kg of hashish by hiding it in his undergarments, was about to board a flight to Bangkok on November 9. Within four days, another Japanese national named Toshiyaki Hayakama was arrested from a Connaught Place hotel after being found in possession of 135 grams of fine quality hashish.

Expressing surprise and concern over these arrests, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Narcotics Branch), D.L. Kashyap, said: "We along with other anti-narcotics agencies have arrested Nigerians, Israeli and people from European countries in the past. But the fact that Japanese nationals have also got initiated into this trade lately was not known to us."

Understandably, one of the major reasons behind this development is that drug trafficking begets huge monetary profits in the international market and that like other foreigners, Japanese nationals intending to enter into this trade are apparently getting attracted to India as drugs in various forms like opium, heroin and hashish are available at relatively cheaper rates.

While hashish is available in abundance in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh due to wild growth of marijuana plants in these hilly areas, good quality heroin manufactured from the first cut of poppy pods can be procured from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh and even from Bhiwani Mandi in Rajasthan. During interrogation, Toshiyaki also revealed that he had bought the consignment from Manali in Himachal Pradesh and that it was readily available there. When Toshiyaki was arrested, his wife was still in Manali.

Interestingly, it has come to light that international drug traffickers manage to smuggle in heroin manufactured in Pakistan and Afghanistan to Delhi mainly via the Indo-Pak border in Punjab. In one such case reported this June, the police here arrested a notorious Nigerian drug trafficker named Marc Anthony Chidozie aka Frank and his accomplice from Punjab, from whom one kg of fine quality white heroin was recovered. It came to light that the heroin consignment had originated from Pakistan.

While the police are yet to study the far reaching consequences of the increasing involvement of Japanese nationals in drug trafficking, investigations so far have revealed that drug traffickers like Frank and Toshiyaki plan long visits to India, procure drugs through carriers to evade detection and then smuggle out the consignments either through parcels or by air. They normally introduce themselves as students or tourists to hide their identity and even get settled at places where they can get drugs easily.

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