The death of a man who allegedly duped his friend into smuggling a record quantity of drugs into Japan in 2002 is unlikely to affect the convicted man's forthcoming appeal hearing in Tokyo, legal experts said Thursday.
Nick Baker, 33, was sentenced by the Chiba District Court to 14 years in prison in June 2003 for trying to smuggle 41,120 tablets of Ecstasy and 990 grams of cocaine through Narita International Airport in April 2002. It was the largest-ever single drug haul at Narita.
Baker has maintained that the suitcase belonged to his traveling companion, James Prunier, and that he had been duped into carrying it through customs. The drugs were hidden in a false bottom in the case. Prunier, 42, had denied any involvement in smuggling.
On Tuesday, Prunier's body was found on a railway line near his home in Britain. He apparently committed suicide.