Japanese woman arrested for drug smuggling at Malaysia airport

Tuesday 03rd November, 05:10 AM JST

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usaexpat at 11:46 PM JST - 3rd November

Yep, in Malaysia drugs = death, she loses big time on this one. My guess is the drugs were bound for Japan and she was unfortunate enough to be busted en-route.
Roppichan at 12:05 AM JST - 4th November

All you guy´s are so quick in judging and repeating what you heard day and night from the silly box. In recent years lots of Japanese birds were used as donkeys, so what ? Bloody 5 kg of ice is nothing, the Japanese market for ice (shabu, e.g.) is very big and how many people make it without getting caught ? 95 % is a good number, so all you parrots : some people take risks and some not. Think what risks you could take instead of working for the corrupt system you live in. Bollocks.
Patrick Smash at 12:08 AM JST - 4th November

I will never visit Malaysia or Singapore because of this draconian policy towards drugs. Stringing up the mules and ignoring the real players is not the answer to the problem, but I'm afraid this girl will hang, and there is probably no hope of another outcome.
usaexpat at 12:10 AM JST - 4th November

Patrick Smash: Agreed completely the mules get the death penalty and the big players never get caught. The only way she won't hang is if the J politicians cause enough of a ruckus and get her shipped back to Japan for trial.
marushka at 12:54 AM JST - 4th November

Its just awful, if this woman was just used without knowing what she had in her luggage, there are so many movies about it... scary things
Soochi at 01:39 AM JST - 4th November

Smuggling Crystal Meth into Malaysia is more like playing Russian Roulette than taking a calculated risk Roppichan.

Doubtful the authorities will allow a Japanese national to stand trial outside of Malaysian jurisdiction, talk about a trophy catch for the customs officer who nabbed her. Worst thing she can do next is deny all knowledge - that will really piss the locals off.
Junnama at 09:21 AM JST - 4th November

A pretty small package of drugs? I'd say 4.7kg is pretty substantial. A bit hard to say that it would be for personal use.

I was thinking street value. Hardly seems like going through the grief of a mule operaton for such a small amount of money...
kimmiekim28 at 10:55 AM JST - 4th November

Thanks for the welcome dolphingirl! And I agree with Soochi about the customs officials. The photo of them looking all smug after this incident struck me as very deliberate. I shudder at thinking of the possibility of this being some kind of setup with no regard at all for this woman's life or rights.
abromofo at 02:49 PM JST - 4th November

Hell they threw a guy in jail for having a poppy seed on his shirt left over from a dinner roll.

Hahaha! Are you serious??
numbskull at 03:32 PM JST - 4th November

Hahaha! Are you serious??

He was incorrect on a couple of points, but the magic of the search engine clears that up. Yes, customs people can be quite scary and unreasonable and so can judicial systems. On the other hand, royalty is not always so bad, or even Muslim sheikhs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Tatham
Yelnats at 03:54 PM JST - 4th November
>
```
Hell they threw a guy in jail for having a poppy seed on his shirt left over from a dinner roll.
```
Hahaha! Are you serious??

Yes, quite true. I read about it. Got 7 years in the slammer.
kirakira25 at 04:59 PM JST - 4th November

I cant believe it was a test or she was set up with 4.7kgs. You are generally only allowed 20-25 kgs of baggage, so surely someone would notice an additional 5 kgs they werent expecting after they packed the bags.

I might have believed it with a few grams, but not that much.

On the other hand I also can`t believe someone is dumb enough to even try to smuggle that amount of drugs into Malaysia via (or from) Dubai. Crazy.
pawatan at 05:19 PM JST - 4th November

I cant believe it was a test or she was set up with 4.7kgs. You are generally only allowed 20-25 kgs of baggage, so surely someone would notice an additional 5 kgs they werent expecting after they packed the bags.

Why not? If it was planted after the bag left her possession she wouldn't know about the extra weight. Don't forget KLIA bag handlers have a bad reputation for bag tampering, so it's not really an unreasonable stretch to think someone could have planted drugs in an unlocked bag with the expectation that their partner on the other end would fetch it before reaching the passenger.

If she's guilty, she's screwed. But don't forget IF she's guilty.
Patrick Smash at 12:12 PM JST - 5th November

pawatan may well be right. Since the US authorities decided everyone has to leave checked luggage unlocked, various bag handlers have run a roaring trade this way. I avoid countries that have sentences like these for mules partly because of the danger of bags being interfered with after check-in, and particularly in transit.
CMEANDU26 at 11:58 AM JST - 6th November

The US authorities have nothing to do with how Malaysia airports do their business. She flew from Dubai to Malaysia. So why even mention the US. When I fly from Japan to Korea I can't lock my bags. Should I blame the US authorities for that too? You are blaming their rules on a situation they have nothing to do with that is a stretch. She says she was set up and that is her story. It's up to their Justice system but I think what everyone is saying is she doesn't stand a chance. So she can really just count her days down and get ready for the worse.