Chinese prosecutors have indicted a Japanese politician who is suspected of carrying illegal drugs last year at an airport in the country, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Takuma Sakuragi, 70, a member of the Inazawa municipal assembly in Aichi Prefecture, was taken into custody Oct. 31 after about 3 kilograms of illegal stimulants were found in his luggage during a baggage check at Baiyun airport in Guangzhou. He was on his way back to Japan via Shanghai, according to Chinese authorities.
Sakuragi, officially arrested in December, has denied any wrongdoing and said he did not know his luggage contained stimulants, according to another person with the knowledge of the case.
In China, the smuggling of 50 grams or more of illegal drugs is an offense punishable by death.
Last week, Chinese authorities executed a Japanese man in his 50s for stimulant drug smuggling.
Since Tokyo and Beijing normalized diplomatic relations in 1972, the man was the fifth Japanese to have been executed in China.
Sakuragi traveled to Guangzhou in October on business for a trading company he owns.
According to Chinese investigations, Sakuragi's luggage that contained the stimulants was given to him by a Malian man, who was also arrested but pleaded he did not know what was inside.
A man who gave the luggage to the Malian is still on the run.
Local police sent the case to the prosecutors in January, but the prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, later asked the police to reinvestigate how the Japanese and the Malian men got the luggage.
Chinese prosecutors have indicted a Japanese politician who is suspected of carrying illegal drugs last year at an airport in the country, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Takuma Sakuragi, 70, a member of the Inazawa municipal assembly in Aichi Prefecture, was taken into custody Oct. 31 after about 3 kilograms of illegal stimulants were found in his luggage during a baggage check at Baiyun airport in Guangzhou. He was on his way back to Japan via Shanghai, according to Chinese authorities.
Sakuragi, officially arrested in December, has denied any wrongdoing and said he did not know his luggage contained stimulants, according to another person with the knowledge of the case.
In China, the smuggling of 50 grams or more of illegal drugs is an offense punishable by death.
Last week, Chinese authorities executed a Japanese man in his 50s for stimulant drug smuggling.
Since Tokyo and Beijing normalized diplomatic relations in 1972, the man was the fifth Japanese to have been executed in China.
Sakuragi traveled to Guangzhou in October on business for a trading company he owns.
According to Chinese investigations, Sakuragi's luggage that contained the stimulants was given to him by a Malian man, who was also arrested but pleaded he did not know what was inside.
A man who gave the luggage to the Malian is still on the run.
Local police sent the case to the prosecutors in January, but the prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, later asked the police to reinvestigate how the Japanese and the Malian men got the luggage.
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