A record 393,000 tablets of Ecstasy and other stimulants were seized last year in Japan.
The National Police Agency said Thursday the number of tablets was more than double last year's record 172,000. The use of stimulant tablets such as Ecstasy is on the rise among young people, particularly in nightclubs, the agency said.
The number of suspects arrested or questioned by police nationwide for alleged use or possession of such drugs more than doubled to 256 from 117 the previous year. About half of these people, 129, were in their 20s, 60 were in their 30s, and 29 were under the age of 20, up from seven a year earlier.
The agency said that in 19 separate cases, authorities seized more than 1,000 tablets of stimulants at a time. In most cases, the stimulants were smuggled from European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
The number of suspects arrested or questioned for abuse of amphetamines meanwhile fell 12.8 percent from a year earlier to 14,624, the agency said.
A total 486.8 kg of stimulants was seized in 2003, up 11.4 percent from a year earlier and the sixth largest in annual volume intercepted by police.
The street value of stimulants is estimated to have skyrocketed around 80 percent from a year earlier to about 74,000 yen per gram, the agency said.