EXCLUSIVE: TEDDINGTON MAN HELD IN JAPAN ON £8m DRUG SMUGGLING CHARGE
A 61-year-old man from Teddington has been indicted for attempting to smuggle approximately 30 kilograms of methamphetamine from the United States into Narita International Airport in Japan, Teddington Town has learned.
The value of the contraband is nearly 2 billion yen, making it the most in the history of the airport, reports Kyodo News.
On October 6, Stewart Cooper, who it’s thought lived in Fairfax Road, and was a well-known face at local pubs, including Castlebar in the High Street, is alleged to have attempted to smuggle approximately 30 kilograms of kakuseizai (methamphetamine) in suitcases carried on a flight from San Francisco that landed at Narita International Airport.
Methamphetamine or ‘meth’ is a highly addictive synthetic stimulant drug that primarily affects the central nervous system with a high potential for abuse and most of it is produced and distributed illicitly.
On Monday, the District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Stewart Cooper for allegedly violating the Stimulants Control Act and other charges.
According to Japan Customs, Cooper denies the charges. “I was approached at a bar. I didn’t think there was methamphetamine in the luggage,” he is alleged to have said in an interview.
According to the Narita Branch of the Tokyo Customs and other sources, the drugs have a street value of 1.7 billion yen (about £8million) making it the largest amount of methamphetamine ever seized from a single traveller at the airport.
According to customs officials, this is the sixth case this year alone of someone slipping around 30 kilograms of stimulants into suitcases carried on flights, with other cases having been found at Haneda and Fukuoka airports.
An official expressed concern. “All of the drugs are being brought in from the United States. This bold method, where no attempt is made to conceal [the crime], is becoming the norm,” the source said.
A Foreign Office spokesperson told Teddington Town: “We are supporting a British man who is detained in Japan and we are in contact with the local authorities.”