Japan Getting High Reputation In Asia

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]ChinaPost: U.S. says Southeast Asia is facing amphetamine epidemic
A flood of amphetamine-type stimulants has fueled an epidemic in Southeast Asia, according to a U.S. government report. The 900-page report, released Wednesday, listed Myanmar as the world's second largest illicit opium producer. It lags far behind Afghanistan's production levels but accounted for more than 90 percent of Southeast Asia's heroin...Japan, while not a significant drug producer, is an attractive target of traffickers, the report said, and one of the largest markets for methamphetamine in Asia. The majority of Japan's methamphetamine is believed to have been produced in China, North Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines...more....

[Mulboyne]

Bloomberg: Japanese Police Say Amphetamine Confiscations Rose 160% in 2007

Japan's National Police Agency seized 339.2 kilograms (747.8 pounds) of stimulant drugs last year, a 160 percent increase from a year earlier, an agency report said. The increase from 126.8 kilograms of methamphetamines confiscated in 2006 followed of a major organized crime drug route from North Korea being cut off, police said. The report, "Drugs and Firearms," released today, also said 12,010 arrests were made in stimulant drug-related cases, a 3.5 percent increase from 2006. Japan has been one of the biggest buyers of North Korea- made stimulants. From 1997 to 2002, for example, 40 percent of the confiscated stimulants in Japan came from North Korea, police said.

With international crackdowns in recent years, North Korea is becoming more careful and clever about smuggling routes and methods, said a Japanese police official who asked not to be identified by name. We must continue to watch North Korea closely. The smuggled stimulants in 2007 were seized in 65 criminal cases, including 30 that involved shipments from China, 11 via Hong Kong, and seven from Canada. Police said they are cooperating more closely with customs, Japan Coast Guard and other agencies to keep stimulant drugs from entering Japan. The report also said Japanese police seized a total of 436.5 kilograms of marijuana, or about twice as much as in 2006.

[Iraira]

Bloomberg: Japanese Police Say Amphetamine Confiscations Rose 160% in 2007

any word on what they did with the 400 kgs of pot? I'm just asking.....