Police in Japan have arrested five Malaysian nationals on suspicion of trying to smuggle about 5 kilograms of cocaine into the country through Tokyo’s Haneda airport. The drugs, which came from Malaysia, were hidden beneath the soles of the suspects’ shoes, according to a Kyodo News report.
The cocaine has an estimated street value of about 120 million yen, or roughly $758,000. Customs inspectors first discovered bags of the drug under the insoles of two of the travellers, with 500 grams packed into each shoe. The find came during checks as the passengers passed through the airport, one of Tokyo’s two main international gateways. The five were arrested on Saturday. Kyodo did not say which flight they arrived on or where they were heading after landing in Tokyo.
Statements from those first two suspects led investigators to believe they had not been travelling alone. Police went on to find three more Malaysians at the airport, each with cocaine concealed in their shoes in the same way. The matching method of concealment across all five travellers pointed investigators towards a single coordinated attempt rather than separate cases. In all, customs and police officers recovered about 5 kilograms of the drug from the group, all of it hidden in footwear. Each of the five now faces suspicion of attempting to bring the drug into Japan.
Investigators suspect the group may have been recruited by someone else to carry the drugs. During questioning, the suspects said they were short of money and had been in contact with a person they did not know through what police described as a messaging app offering a high level of anonymity. Four of the five have admitted the charges against them, while one has denied them, police said.
Police have not released the names of the suspects or details of the flight they arrived on. The investigation is now focused on who recruited the five and arranged for the cocaine to be packed into their shoes. Police believe the person behind the shipment used an anonymous messaging service to reach travellers who were struggling financially, and the case will turn on whether investigators can trace that contact. The four who have admitted the charges and the one who denies them will face the Japanese courts on drug smuggling counts once the police inquiry is complete.
