Japanese police are having difficulty cracking down on the smuggling of illegal stimulants amid an increase in their use among celebrities as well as ordinary citizens.
Japanese investigative authorities and illegal drug experts believe almost all illegal stimulants in the country have been smuggled in from overseas by domestic and foreign crime syndicates, who are often in collaboration in the crime.
The authorities view it as important to interdict smuggling at the border, but crackdowns do not necessarily lead to the arrests of leaders of crime syndicates, or the masterminds of such smuggling.
The confiscation of 120 kg of stimulants in a Kochi Prefecture fishing port in February resulted in the arrests of nine Chinese men and a Japanese gangster, but the authorities say it will be extremely difficult to arrest two suspects in Hong Kong believed to have masterminded the smuggling, as in many other cases.