Police and Tokyo customs officials said Thursday they have arrested two men on suspicion of trying to smuggle some 6 tons of chlorofluorocarbon, a controlled ozone-depleting substance, into Japan.
Noboru Sakurai, 44, a broker of imported goods, and Takafumi Fukuie, 56, a self-styled financier, are suspected of violating the Customs Law by attempting to illegally import the CFCs in cans, police and customs officials said.
According to police, Sakurai and Fukuie attempted to smuggle some 24,000 cans of CFCs on a containership that arrived at Oi pier in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward around July 10 from Vietnam. Each can contained 250 grams of CFC.
The two had made a customs declaration stating the containers' contents were paint cans, but customs officers at the pier discovered the containers carried CFC cans.
The import of the CFCs is banned, but the gas is still used in air conditioners of older model cars. The CFCs fetch a high price on the black market as there are some 20 million such cars in Japan. Some 500 grams of CFCs is used per car.
Police said the two sold at least 100,000 cans of CFCs to automobile maintenance shops through intermediary agents since March and made some 300 million yen in profits.