Japanese police said Friday they have arrested a Canadian national on suspicion of smuggling into Japan hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine hidden inside large industrial machinery that he had shipped in a container from the United States.
Tokyo metropolitan police said they arrested Vincent Yat Sum Yeung, a 38-year-old company executive and a resident of Yokohama, on Wednesday.
Police said they believe the suspect had unidentified accomplices and are still investigating, but declined to confirm further details.
Police found some 320 kilograms of methamphetamines, divided into 321 bags containing 1 kilogram each, inside a large milling machine shipped from Los Angeles in December 2023, according to Japan's NHK public television.
The haul reportedly had a street value of 21.2 billion yen. The machine and the stimulants had been temporarily stored at a warehouse in the city of Kuki, just north of Tokyo, NHK said.
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37 Comments
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JeffLee
100s of kilos of the stuff!!! I bet he wished he were in a Canadian cell right now than in a Japanese one. LOL.
I wonder what his company is.
sakurasuki
Yesterday someone from Ukraine try it by putting inside machine, and now someone from Canada?
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/ukraine-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-charges-of-smuggling-113-kg-of-drugs
bo
Must be a big market here in japan , which does surprise me !
Meiyouwenti
Judging from the suspect’s name, Vincent Yat Sum Yeung, he’s originally from Hong Kong or some other Cantonese speaking part of China.
Eat the left
Don't think we're talking Canuck pedigree.
YeahRight
Back in the US, many,many years ago, I could kind of figure out where to buy drugs had I wanted some. I just don't see that here in Japan. Where is the market for such a large amount?
Mr Kipling
Was he Canadian or holding a Canadian passport?
owzer
No. The “an” can be safely removed in his case.
Antiquesaving
This is how drug cartels and dealers get a market!
They move into areas where little or no drugs are available or used.
Then they send their people out, at first they target occasional users at cheap nearly give away prices, they get them to "give free samples" for some time to friends, clients in bars, schools, work, etc... and they create a dependency and addicts, once there are enough they then raise the prices and start bringing in even more addictive stuff.
This is how entire town in rural Canada became meth dependant communities.
Frankie Wilde
Methamphetamine was invented by a Japanese scientist called Nagai Nagayoshi in 1893. It was given to the military to use during World War 2 and was available as an over-the-counter medicine called hiropon until 1951. There has always been a market for meth in Japan.
I read (and this may not be true) that when it was taken off the market the Yaks stole a whole warehouse full of it and started selling it on the black market. The government at the time did a deal with them and said you can keep the meth business but if you start bringing opiates into the country we will come after you and you will pay with your lives.
That seems to be how it is to this day in Japan with heroin hard to find while meth is widely available and one of the few illegal drugs in Japan that seems to be controlled by the Japanese mafia.
pecad28810
He might be second or third generation Canadian-Chinese. What difference does it make anyway?
Antiquesaving
Perhaps less rumours more facts.
https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/meth-addiction/who-invented-meth/
Frankie Wilde
@Antiquesaving….. Amphetamine was first synthesized by Lazar Edeleanu, a Romanian chemist in 1887 and which was taken by British and American soldiers in the form of Benzedrine. Methamphetamine was first made in Japan in 1893 and taken by the Japanese (Hiropon) and also by the Germans in the form of Pervitin. Those are facts not rumors.
uaintseeme
Geesh, he's going to jail forever.
kohakuebisu
Or 135 million USD, if that is easier to visualize. Our Canadian friend is in a much bigger league than the Trailer Park Boys.
It is customary for Japanese celebs to get caught with 0.1g. So 320 kg is at least 3 million little baggies for someone to shift. Probably far more once it is cut with something.
Zaphod
Mr Kipling
Legally that would be same thing. I do not think the law distinguishes between nationality aquired by birth or by application.
GuruMick
Antiquesaving...your "how do drugs find users " riffing seems straight out of Reefer Madness era.
Doesnt happen in the way you describe, especially the "free samples " and the "kiddies in schools "
What can happen, is that Police eliminate the supply of say, grass and the user will get what he can...even meth., often from the same dealer.
A friend who uses may start another friend .
A person on the street may sell some to a passerby.
The addiction has two components mainly.
The drug itself. How addictive is it. How quick to achieve addiction .
More importantly, the new user will find the drug gives what they need at that time.
Fills a hole in their psyche, makes them part of a group, maybe work longer hours, in the case of speed.
I am unsure, but I think heroin not a big player in Japan.
If so, I would expect the old crime syndicates...Yakuza etc...have decreed it to be so.
Therefore , Yakuza and related probably still in the drivers seat in supply of hard drugs in Japan.
Weed more Laiz Faire....small growers supplying small groups.
Antiquesaving
Ok you can argue with the RCMP, because this was how they and several other government panels (research) explained the rapid spread of Meth in much of Canada especially in rural communities.
But I am sure you know better.
Cephus
"Japanese police arrest Canadian over smuggling of stimulants hidden in machinery."
Anyone who enslaves the public with drugs deserves no mercy. However, according to my own experiences sometimes strange things happens. When COVID-19 subsided and the Japanese government opened the borders again. I bought COVID-19 kits in LA for my loved once in Japan. But I remember once I bought more than 7 COVID kits during the day before travel to Japan the following morning. That same day it happened we had a church meeting in the evening. And between leaving my place and the end of the meeting someone somehow got to my apartment opened one of the kit and I realized because some of the solutions tainted the wrapping paper. The best part is I noticed and removed the entire kit and repackaged again. Arrive at Kansai the deal was already fixed the lady took every package for chemical check. Therefore, if Vincent Yat Sum Yeung, trusted the wrong people. He might be a victim too not d criminal. Just putting it out there. Yes the drugs we discovered but he might not be aware of it if he has ever stepped toes on some groups he was somehow entrapped and fell for it.
Antiquesaving
Only one problem with the above theory.
According to the RCMP, the FBI, etc... after legalization of marijuana in Canada and other places and the cartels loosing that revenue stream, they increased the supply or Meth, heroin and fentanyl and dropped the prices on those 3 in order to boost the number of users.
GuruMick
Antique...I would read any link you post on the RCMP and meth. addictions starting.
I have probably interviewed more than 1000 drug addicts in my time working with Courts and Parole Service.
NEVER heard of "free samples ", NEVER heard of "schools " being a starting ground.
But things in Canada may be different.
Maybe a naughty moose was involved ?
GuruMick
This offender going inside for 20 years or more , better hope there is a "Prisoner Exchange Treaty " with Canada so he can do last part of his sentence in Canada.....
GuruMick
Cephus...nice try but the Japanese wont buy it.
You "possess" it...its your problem.
Very low percentage of "I didnt know it was there " claims hold up, even in Jurisdictions , like Australia, that have a high threshold to find guilt.
On the face of it, this is a connected man.
Cephus
GuruMick
Cephus...nice try but the Japanese wont buy it.
You "possess" it...its your problem.
And that's the problem GuruM, sometimes taking things on the face value leads to erroneous results. I don't who this Vincent is, but I'm willing to give him a degree of doubt based on my own experiences. Otherwise if he is a drug dealer or peddler he deserves no mercy bearing in mind addiction is not a joke. This is a case which deserve to be investigated thoroughly all the way to Los Angeles
GuruMick
Antique...you above comment underscores the idea that users get the drugs from dealers...not "free samples " on the street outside "schools "
BTW Canada has always had a thriving home grown pot supply...no cartels needed.
And speaking of cartels...drugs are business using business models.
Cocaine in Italy is well covered in the book "Zero Zero Zero "
And maybe not in Japan, but elsewhere, TYPE of drug in vogue changes over a couple of years or so.
Probably see a return to coke in the coming year or so.
Business.
Antiquesaving
For someone that claims to have interviewed 1000s of drug addicts, you really need to update your information.
Google: Cartels cheap Meth in Canada.
But again argue with facts.
https://vancouversun.com/news/oversaturated-meth-market-pushing-canadian-makers-export-abroad
Btw for someone that claims to have interviewed 1000s of drug addicts, the fact you think drug cartels are not in Canada, that drug dealer don't give "extra" to users so they can "offer " to their friends and family makes me Wonder about your claims.
I have known not " interviewed" a lot of drug addicts way back in the 80s and 90s and most are dead today (thanks to ODs and HIV) and these were " friends" " classmates" etc .. and the number one way they first used was with a "friend" offering to give them something special and once hooked they paid that friend who was selling in order to pay for his/her habit and inany cases these new addicts will also get others hooked and eventually sell to them to pay for their habit.
But I guess that was all just my imagination and that of most police and specialists.
GuruMick
Antique...addiction is not spontaneous, takes more than a "free sample ", or a "generous friend " for the hooks to get in. Takes repeated use with the effect meeting a need in the person .
And most who use/try do not become addicted such that their life is ruined.
I did not say "Cartel were NOT In Canada " either...I said Canada had a thriving back yard supply of high quality weed from individual growers.
Some even won the High Times Cup, as I recall.
But, thanks for the exchange.
I wont be "updating my info "...done with that part of my working life.
falseflagsteve
A demonic creature who thankfully has been caught before his drug caused chaos and death to many. Lock him up for life, this type is almost as bad a paedo in my book.
GuruMick
Steve above...I think I would like to read a copy of your "book "
Marquis de Sade or similar I might guess.
CaptDingleheimer
Supposedly amphetamines are the drug of choice in Japan, but I've never met anyone who uses them. I've known plenty of Japanese pot smokers, but have never heard of any tweakers, other than in a Jake Adelstein book about Yakuza. Anyone else know any?
TokyoLiving
Death penalty for any drug smuggler..
Learn from China..
TaiwanIsNotChina
Nobody needs to learn barbarism from China.
Peter Neil
Mr KiplingFeb. 1 09:03 am JST
wow, how does someone not a canadian citizen get a canadian passport?
god, i love jt.
LV
“Death penalty for drug smugglers”.
If the death penalty stopped people from doing things, there would be no crime. Has anyone considered making the pay for honest work enough to live a comfortable life?
ILoveDownvotes
＠LV，technically it stops those who are executed, I hear they rarely reoffend.
wallace
Life in prison also stops people from reoffending.
BB
320 kilograms?! Lock them all up for decades!