Customs officers punished for planting drugs in passengers’ luggage

Following an investigation into the unorthodox methods used by Japanese customs officials to train their sniffer dogs, it has been revealed that illegal substances have been planted on at least 160 innocent passengers in the past.

In an official press statement Tokyo Customs spokesman Kazutoshi Takahashi said that customs officials have been spiking customers bags since September of last year and that “The three officers apologised and explained that they did it in an effort to boost the dogs’ performance”. “We are deeply sorry that such acts have happened”.

In May this year the practice of deliberately planting illegal substances into passengers bags was exposed when four ounces of cannabis resin were placed inside the luggage of a traveler from Hong Kong. The resin and its unwitting custodian were then “lost”.

All 124 grams were recovered in a Tokyo hotel the following week and the customs officials have been disciplined by their superiors. The officer responsible for losing the hash has been suspended for three months while two other have had 10% salary cuts for three months.

This disciplinary action falls far short of the sentence the officers in question would have received if they had been convicted of distributing illegal substances by Japanese police. A conviction of drug dealing in Japan is notoriously harsh, but would have seemed like a walk in the park compared to their victim’s potential situation.

If the innocent passenger had returned to Hong Kong, or indeed mainland China he could have faced a police force known to use the death penalty to enforce its drug laws.

This series of events has demonstrated no small amount of professional neglect and incompetence on the part of Narita airport staff, but has also shown how easily one customs official can get his hands on significant quantities of illegal substances. Apparently if asked what he was planning to do with it, he either lied or was allowed to carry out his experiment with his superior’s consent. Either way, a rather large hole in internal security has reared its head.

No disciplinary measures have been announced for the dog.