AP via Star Online: Four arrested in Japan in huge Ecstasy drug haul
Police arrested four men and seized more than 286,000 tablets of Ecstasy, a spokesman said Monday, in what was reported to be the country's single largest haul ever of the popular party drug [in Saitama, according to Kyodo reports]. Masakazu Saito, 52, Shinji Miyamoto, 44, Toshimi Ito, 54, and Toshiharu Ishibashi, 41, were arrested this month on suspicion of violating drug control laws and led police to a stash of 286,119 Ecstasy tablets, a National Police Agency spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
The spokesman refused to confirm local media reports calling it Japan's largest-ever Ecstasy drug bust. The tablets had an estimated street value of about 1.144 billion yen (US$10.83 million; euro8.29 million). The haul equals more than two-thirds the total quantity of Ecstasy seized in Japan last year, when authorities seized a record high 429,000 tablets, mostly smuggled from the Netherlands and France. Separately, police also found 75 kilograms (165 pounds) of liquid amphetamine in the drug bust, the NPA spokesman said.