CHIBA -- The Chiba District Court sentenced a British man to 14 years in prison Thursday in a drug-smuggling case that has drawn international condemnation of the Japanese judicial system.
With Nicholas Baker, 32, denying the charges against him, the case has become a political issue, provoking statements in Baker's defense by British lawmakers and human rights groups.
The district court ruled that Baker tried to smuggle 41,120 tablets of ecstasy and 990 grams of cocaine into Narita airport in April 2002, using a suitcase fitted with a false bottom.