Free trip to Japan lands two US women in trouble over alleged US$1m cannabis haul

The pair, both 25, arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport from New York last Saturday with two suitcases in which “cannabis-like dried plants were secretly stored”. — AFP file pic

First Published: Friday, 11 Sep 2026 3:17 PM MYT

TOKYO, Sept 11 — Tokyo police arrested two American women for allegedly smuggling US$1 million worth of cannabis, with one suspect claiming she was motivated by a free trip to Japan, an official and media reports said today. 

The pair, both 25, arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport from New York last Saturday with two suitcases in which “cannabis-like dried plants were secretly stored”, a police spokesman told AFP.

Japan has some of the world’s strictest drug laws and smuggling or possession of illegal narcotics can result in a jail term.

The dried cannabis weighed around 30 kilogrammes and is valued at about 150 million yen ($970,000), media reported.

One of the women told police that she took the job for the money and because “I was attracted by the fact I could go to Japan for free”, Nippon TV reported.

The other suspect denies the allegation, telling police she “didn’t know that cannabis was inside” the suitcase, the Tokyo Shimbun reported, citing unnamed police sources.

The women “conspired with someone else whose name is unknown”, the police spokesman said. 

The pair were arrested “on suspicion of violating the drugs and psychotropics control law, or, smuggling to gain profit”, the spokesman said.

They also breached two other laws, he added.

Smuggling cannabis for the purpose of making profit carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to three million yen (US$19,500). — AFP