U.S. women arrested over smuggling of $1 million worth of cannabis into Japan

Tokyo police have arrested two American women for allegedly smuggling $1 million worth of cannabis into Japan, with one suspect claiming she was motivated by the idea of a free trip to the country, according to an official and local media reports on Friday.

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 spokesperson said.

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 kilograms and is valued at about ¥150 million ($970,000), local 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 spokesperson said.

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

They also breached two other laws, he added.

Smuggling cannabis for the purpose of making a profit is punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to ¥3 million.