NationStates Jolt Archive

They're giving passengers drugs now instead of confiscating it:
Cannabis blunder at Tokyo airport

An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport has received 142g (3oz) of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say.

A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.

Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in.

Anyone finding the package has been asked to contact customs officials.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7419969.stm

I think they'd be better off hanging around 7-11s and waiting for some businessman to come in wanting a dozen packs of cheezits, 3 litres of coke and 15 bars of Meji chocolate.
8

Wow, I'd get really pissed if they tried to frame me like that.

:eek:

The Beeb no longer uses traditional Imperial units...

I saw a short note about this story in the Times today, and it once again struck me that the media have no consistency whatsoever when reporting the value of illegal drugs.

If you chose to, you could get 142g (works out at around 5oz, not 3 as reported) of cannabis around here for about £350... reading it again I can't decide whether the numbers have been bumped up (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4008105.ece) again to make it a little more newsworthy, or the Japanese customs officers are being royally screwed by their dealers.

They're giving passengers drugs now instead of confiscating it:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7419969.stm

I think they'd be better off hanging around 7-11s and waiting for some businessman to come in wanting a dozen packs of cheezits, 3 litres of coke and 15 bars of Meji chocolate.
8

God bless the hilarity and good will of the Japanese!!:D

I saw a short note about this story in the Times today, and it once again struck me that the media have no consistency whatsoever when reporting the value of illegal drugs.

If you chose to, you could get 142g (works out at around 5oz, not 3 as reported) of cannabis around here for about £350... reading it again I can't decide whether the numbers have been bumped up (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4008105.ece) again to make it a little more newsworthy, or the Japanese customs officers are being royally screwed by their dealers.

Its not a lot... but i thought the penalty in japan for posession/dealing/smuggling cannabis (in any amount) was amongst the harshest in the world at least with regards to prison sentences.

Its not a lot... but i thought the penalty in japan for posession/dealing/smuggling cannabis (in any amount) was amongst the harshest in the world at least with regards to prison sentences.

yeah who needs pot when shroom tea is legal.

Its not a lot... but i thought the penalty in japan for posession/dealing/smuggling cannabis (in any amount) was amongst the harshest in the world at least with regards to prison sentences.
Reading your post made me realise that I had no idea how the Japanese viewed it, so off I went on a 5 minute research job... looks like you're pretty much right (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_country), and the Japanese treat it pretty seriously so maybe the price is a fair reflection of the local 'street value'.

For strictness though, the Somalians have them beaten hands down... "Punishable by death, beheading, flogging and various types of torture" :eek:

Reading your post made me realise that I had no idea how the Japanese viewed it, so off I went on a 5 minute research job... looks like you're pretty much right (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_country), and the Japanese treat it pretty seriously so maybe the price is a fair reflection of the local 'street value'.

For strictness though, the Somalians have them beaten hands down... "Punishable by death, beheading, flogging and various types of torture" :eek:

thats only when the Islamic courts are in charge of Somalia. I am sure Ethiopia will push them back with the unknown stock pile of American weapons they suddenly discovered.

So, let me get this straight: A guy put cannabis in someone else's bag, in a country that includes JAIL TIME for possession?

Why the hell is this guy still working? If I were the affected party, I would see to it that the lives of everyone involved were destroyed! Sue the government, the airport, each of them, make them spend their useless existences in courtrooms, discussing how much money they'll give you!

And I'd try and encourage actual drug users to make the claim as well, just to make sure these guys spent years in courtrooms.

So, let me get this straight: A guy put cannabis in someone else's bag, in a country that includes JAIL TIME for possession?

Why the hell is this guy still working? If I were the affected party, I would see to it that the lives of everyone involved were destroyed!
Okay, I know it's hard, but let's use some common sense...

An official of the Japanese government puts an official test sample of cannabis in some luggage. I very much doubt that it would just be a baggie with some dope in it.

Don't you think that the test sample would have an official seal of some sort that identified it as such? Of course it would. And if an Japanese finds it, they will probably turn it in to the local police department.

Your line of reasoning is much more appropriate to the United States baggage police department.

Okay, I know it's hard, but let's use some common sense...

An official of the Japanese government puts an official test sample of cannabis in some luggage. I very much doubt that it would just be a baggie with some dope in it.

Don't you think that the test sample would have an official seal of some sort that identified it as such? Of course it would. And if an Japanese finds it, they will probably turn it in to the local police department.

Your line of reasoning is much more appropriate to the United States baggage police department.

It still is a violation, even assuming there is such a seal or other kind of evidence. Their lives must be destroyed. It's not acceptable for officials to do this.

I intend to become a public servant here, and I'm sure that under no circumstances I'd pull that kind of crap on people.

It still is a violation, even assuming there is such a seal or other kind of evidence. Their lives must be destroyed. It's not acceptable for officials to do this.

It's not acceptable, the article says that the customs officer breached regulations.

It still is a violation, even assuming there is such a seal or other kind of evidence. Their lives must be destroyed. It's not acceptable for officials to do this.
Okay, I read past the first paragraph... Even though it's a bone-headed thing to do, I don't think it is worth anything more than a fine, or at the most, a suspension of the customs guy. He was trying to improve the process, not plant dope on debarking passengers.

It's not acceptable, the article says that the customs officer breached regulations.

True. And I'd use this to see to it that the guy loses his job, house, and, if at all possible, the guard of his children.

Okay, I read past the first paragraph... Even though it's a bone-headed thing to do, I don't think it is worth anything more than a fine, or at the most, a suspension of the customs guy. He was trying to improve the process, not plant dope on debarking passengers.

I'm taking the point of view of the passenger here. It's NOT acceptable to be treated as a mule/acceptable risk (because the very fact that they lost the pack shows that they treated the passenger as an acceptable risk) due to the whims of an official. I'd seek to have him lose his job and personally pay me a LOT of money.

True. And I'd use this to see to it that the guy loses his job, house, and, if at all possible, the guard of his children.
So if a policeman gets a traffic ticket, his life should be ruined, as well? Come on...

So if a policeman gets a traffic ticket, his life should be ruined, as well? Come on...

If a policeman makes me spend one night in jail to make a point to his superiors about the efficiency of the jail, I would say so.

I see this as "seeing someone as an acceptable risk". And I believe something that sees other people as acceptable risks is automatically despising that person. Thus, it's a personal act.

So, let me get this straight: A guy put cannabis in someone else's bag, in a country that includes JAIL TIME for possession?

Why the hell is this guy still working? If I were the affected party, I would see to it that the lives of everyone involved were destroyed! Sue the government, the airport, each of them, make them spend their useless existences in courtrooms, discussing how much money they'll give you!

And I'd try and encourage actual drug users to make the claim as well, just to make sure these guys spent years in courtrooms.

Are you kidding now anyone who has been to that airport has a get out of jail free card for possession, since it might be the goverment owned one. though they have to plant drugs on people. Drug dogs get discouraged if they don't occasionally sniff out drugs.

Are you kidding now anyone who has been to that airport has a get out of jail free card for possession, since it might be the goverment owned one.

I would use this to create havoc, and make sure that not one case of drug possession for the next 2 months in Japan got properly prosecuted, by sending e-mails to every lawyer I could telling them to use this allegation. I would, later, proudly announce that it's because of me, and tell them NEVER to cross me again, lest they get the same results.

As for the dogs, well, they can plant the dope in themselves.

I would use this to create havoc, and make sure that not one case of drug possession for the next 2 months in Japan got properly prosecuted. I would proudly announce that it's because of me, and tell them NEVER to cross me again.

As for the dogs, well, they can plant the dope in themselves.

they got to train the dogs not to sniff the agents a few drug bust and the residue would make the dogs always go for the agent more then the drug seller.

they got to train the dogs not to sniff the agents a few drug bust and the residue would make the dogs always go for the agent more then the drug seller.

That's not the passenger's problem.

:eek: You mean...cops plant evidence? Who'd have thought?

One thing that just occurred to me.

The Narita is one of the biggest, INTERNATIONAL, airports in Japan. So, we're talking here about a guy that has a decent chance of being a foreigner.

Which makes it quite worse, as the foreigner likely knows nobody there, this might hurt his situation in a business trip, and so on.

Heikoku is right, if a bit frothed up. If the point was to train the dogs, they could easily have planted random bags containing the drugs among passenger's bags, not used actual passenger baggage for this. If they wanted to train the dogs to work among strangers in a crowd, they could have sent other cops carrying the goods into the crowds, or even asked passengers to volunteer for this. There is no justification for secretly putting contraband into an innocent passenger's luggage. What if that passenger got into a traffic stop or other police encounter later and was found with dope in his luggage by a cop who didn't know about this "test" fuck-up? Does the "I don't know how that got into my bag, officer?" argument work any better in Japan than it does in the US (even when it's true)?

Plus, this official managed to put contraband out onto the street, the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing. Good move there, sparky-san. For fucking up his job and putting an innocent civilian at risk, this guy deserves to be fired and to lose all/any future benefits (such as pension, etc) that Japan might give its customs officials.

True. And I'd use this to see to it that the guy loses his job, house, and, if at all possible, the guard of his children.

That's a little harsh, everybody screws up at work. If the drugs had been found in the bag then I'm sure it would have taken all of an hours worth of phonecalls to clear up.

That's a little harsh, everybody screws up at work. If the drugs had been found in the bag then I'm sure it would have taken all of an hours worth of phonecalls to clear up.

There's a difference between screwing up at work and purposefully harming others.

A brain surgeon sneezing in the middle of it and killing someone would be more forgivable than a person deliberately hiding dope in someone's bag. In the first case it's carelessness, in the second it's malice.

Also, what would be in it for me to make the calls? Their actions would have cost me one hour for no reason. Would I get money? Or what?

Add to that the risk of me getting in jail over this, and I'd see it as a personal attack. Enough to react by trying to ruin the life of the perpetrator.

Heikoku is right, if a bit frothed up.

Sorry. (And I guess I apologize to the rest of the people here as well) :p.

I just got an insight here about why I'm so furious: I was in a similar situation, with, yes, I would learn later, crooked officers, when trying to leave Colombia with my parents when I was 9. No drugs (despite it being Colombia), just another thing, really.

They didn't get anything over this, but here's hoping the FARC captured them and gouged their eyes off.

I do stand by what I said: Were I the offended party, I'd make sure to get compensation for this, and make a point of fouling up drug charges all over Japan for this.

The guy says he regrets it? I'd make sure he got to learn how much.

Sorry. (And I guess I apologize to the rest of the people here as well) :p.

I just got an insight here about why I'm so furious: I was in a similar situation, with, yes, I would learn later, crooked officers, when trying to leave Colombia with my parents when I was 9. No drugs (despite it being Colombia), just another thing, really.

I do stand by what I said: Were I the offended party, I'd make sure to get compensation for this, and make a point of fouling up drug charges all over Japan for this.

The guy says he regrets it? I'd make sure he got to learn how much.
I agree that this screw-up created the risk of doing serious damage to the reputation of an innocent bystander. I also would not let go of it, nor be satisifed with anything they said or did, until I was satisified that my innocence in the matter was common public knowledge, and that the one who had put me at that risk was no longer able to do the same to anyone else, and that the agency in question -- and all other law enforcement agencies -- understood very clearly exactly why they should be sure it never happened again, ever, anywhere in their jurisdiction. As for the idiot who screwed up in the first place, he deserves to have his reputation destroyed, because in his case, a bad reputation would be a truthful one. But I might let him keep his kids.

I would be more harsh on the person who authorized this as opposed to the agent who actually did the planting. Even if the drugs hadn't been lost, they'd still have put someone through the scare of having drugs found on them.

I would be more harsh on the person who authorized this as opposed to the agent who actually did the planting. Even if the drugs hadn't been lost, they'd still have put someone through the scare of having drugs found on them.

I would want the both punished to the full extent. Following an illegal order is no excuse. And yes, if they put me through the scare of having drugs found on myself, I would try to make sure they got put through the scare of having their eyes gouged off, if it were at all legally possible.

I do stand by what I said: Were I the offended party, I'd make sure to get compensation for this, and make a point of fouling up drug charges all over Japan for this.

Because there's no malice involved in that.

Because there's no malice involved in that.

I'll use a childish argument and a decent one:

They started it.

And I'd not be putting people through the threat of going to jail. Quite the contrary, actually. :p

Other scenario I thought: The person whose bag they hide the dope in has a weak heart. He's arrested, and the whole stress of it all causes a heart attack. He dies.

The officers would have just become murderers.

There is ONE possiblity. since the official cannot remember who's bag he put the drugs in, we can posit that the traveller was NOT kept under survelance as he or she went through the airport. so it's quite possible that the traveller found the bag and "threw it away". thus when the drug dogs came by, they didn't detect anything because there was nothing to detect.

if the bag was luggage, then that's another story.

For strictness though, the Somalians have them beaten hands down... "Punishable by death, beheading, flogging and various types of torture" :eek:

so... they kill you, then behead you, then flog your headless, dead body and suject that same dead, headless body to various torture? talk about beating a dead... nevermind... :p

That's a little harsh, everybody screws up at work. If the drugs had been found in the bag then I'm sure it would have taken all of an hours worth of phonecalls to clear up.
If they catch him in Japan, maybe. Since they don't know who they've put the drugs on, this poor bastard could only be a visitor and end up leaving the country with the "gift" that Japanese customs left him.

On the other hand, I think Heikoku is going a bit far by advocating throwing the whole Japanese legal system into chaos. I'd be content if everyone responsible were to commit seppuku.