Marijuana discovered in apartment after reports of fire

BS detector is red lining right now. If the fire department get a report of fire of course they have to respond to it but they certainly have absolutely no right to come into your home without your permission on unsubstantiated reports with no evidence. Years ago I trained as a volunteer fireman in my hometown and there was a well established protocol for entering residences where no one was home but a fire was reported. You simply can't just started kicking in doors because you get a phone call for some anonymous caller claiming there is a fire. That argument aside, lets not forget that it was the POLICE who responded and entered this persons residence without any evidence of fire based on an anonymous call.

＠thundercat If the fire department is called, they WILL check for fire even if no smoke is visible. I have experienced in false alarms where the fire department would check every apartment for possible fire before leaving. It would be very irresponsible for them to just say, "no smoke in the hallway, lets go home" without at least investigating.

@knowitall... ever heard of the expression 'where there's smoke there's fire'? If the police and fire department can't tell when an apartment is on fire I think we all need to be a little worried.

Yes growing it is a crime, and a very profitable crime at that! I've heard that the people that do grow suddenly have alarming spikes in their electricity bills, like to the tune of 150,000 a month. I'm sure if records were checked, this guys electric bill would be in that neighborhood. Other than that, there's almost no expense, and the turnover is 100 fold or more. And like tobacco smoking, once addicted, the consumer just can't stop, so its an on-going market and on-going cash cow, or in this case cash plant.

Gotta love the conspiracy theories some of you are proposing. The police and fire department receive a call about a fire and check all the apartments. Should they have just ignored the unlocked apartment where nobody answered the door? If there was a fire and the place burned down, you would probably be blaming the police and fire department for negligence for not checking. If they had evidence that he was growing, they could easily have obtained a warrant and not risk controversy over a search. Either way, he guy was doing something he knew was illegal. Is getting high on pot so great that you would risk going to prison? You may not agree on how severe a crime this is, but growing is a crime here.

Timeon...right on. He probably got so confident or demented (or both) that he imagined participating in a barbque would help camouflage the real culprit.

An early 70's song went "I want to be a hippy got to get stoned on mari marijuana." Think its 1970 in Japan these days?

we did a BBQ on a large veranda, the top floor of the building. we kept the smoke and the noise low, but nevertheless in no time the neighbors called the owner and a big circus followed. that was downtown Tokyo, I hoped Hokkaido is better, but apparently I'm wrong. And dude, if you're growing week in your place, keep a low profile!

I'd say the phone call came from another resident pissed off with the smell, the noise and who caught a glimpse of the growth as this guy entered the apartment. Then when a BBQ presented an opportunity the resident called the authorities. Revenge is sweet. Too bad it's illegal. This guy will do some time and pay a fine. At least I hope he does some time. Breaking the law shouldn't be let off lightly.

Ahh, so that's why there was a chopper buzzing over Sapporo a few days ago. Hardly the Yaks, probably a surfer/snowboarder dud who got a little too adventurous, perhaps the Yaks had him shut down.

Haha..attending a BBQ at DAWN! on the balcony of another resident. I guess they were too noisy and pissed someone off! Some people WORK you see. The cops probably just get lucky with the dope stash. I wonder what Cypress Hill would say:)

wolfbiscuits, someone should cultivate some parsely in an apartment and see what happens. If he or she films it, they could be the next Morgan Spurlock. They could call it "Miracle-gro me" or something.

Nice, all u have to do is yell fire. Or the police can call themselves and report a fire. Perfect loophole, you don't even need a warrant. =)

There need not have been any informant or loose lips on the grower's part. A grow-op here in Canada is almost always in a house, or a secluded building. They are busted by several things: a strong smell noticed by neighbours, a heat signature noticed from the air, a huge draw on the local power grid, and there is an excessive amount of moisture, so damage to the premises via water and mold is likely. Blinds are also usually closed all the time to hide it. In an apartment, I can't imagine how he could have kept it hidden. You could smell it anywhere on that floor, surely - and elsewhere via open windows.

Perhaps we could host some of these young entrepreneurs in Canada, for training purposes. Safety first!

space monkey beat me too it. If it wasn't the smoke, then it was the noise, just plain old jealousy (he has friends and a BBQ?! I hate him!), or just a plain old desire to ruin someone's fun.

It might have been over the pot, but many possibilities here.

And bumblebeetuna, thanks for the LOLs!

Maybe the BBQ was too smokey and thats why someone called the fire Brigade.

Disgusting how the police were able to raid the guy's apartment based on something as flimsy as a "reoprt of a fire". Thundercat and Whyamiiinjapan have it right.

@adaydream

You gotta go easy on the hooch man, okay. It's affecting your perception!! (>o<)

If it was a Yakuza grow-op, the cops would not come near it with a fireman's ladder. And correct me if I'm wrong. According to popular rumors, Hokkaido is full of the good green stuff. Why is this man growing? That's like bringing sand to the beach.

I can't wait for the next story about the cops getting busted for stealing dozens of bags of chips from the local combini!

"Authorities received reports of a fire . . . identity of the caller is still unknown." Normally, the fire department gets the call, right? More than one call by the same person? How do they know it's the same person? So, they check it out, find out it's false. GAP. Then the police "enter" (="break into") the guy's apartment which looks like a jungle (according to what Zenny 11 saw on TV). Are warrants necessary in Japan?

Here's what I think. They knew about the guy and had an informer in or around the apartment call when the guy was visiting his neighbor. They made up the idea about the false alarm in order to make it easier for them to explain why they had to break into his apartment.

Sarge: screw it did it anyway... BBQ's for all!

"attending a barbecue on the balcony"

Gosh, I wish my landlord allowed barbecues on my balcony.

Is that what they were? Now who put those smelly things there while I was at the barbeque?

R E V E N G E is a dish best served cold. Or in the form of a phone call.

bumblebeetuna, I scanned it and that went right over my head. Yeah, I'm over my limit I guess. heh heh. < :-)

adaydream: I thought I laid on the sarcasm pretty thick there... maybe you were too high to notice =P Pass the bong, bro!

Saw the Apartment on TV last night. More like a jungle.

And they say that Japanese people don`t do drugs. Hahaahhaha. I think there are more Japanese people doing drugs than they are foreigners.

bumblebeetuna you need to mature. Pot doesn't hurt anybody. Matter of fact if it wasn't for marijuana arrests a lot of communities would go bankrupt. Who has died from pot overdose? Name one. Just one.

But back to this dumb-ass, he got caught because pot plants smell. I grow pot and I can smell it before I get into the back yard. Somebody smelled the plants under the door.

Too bad he screwed up. The world needs little more pot. < :-)

Great! Let's lock away this scumbag! He's destroying society with his "marijuana!" Can't have people enjoying themselves, no sir, no how! Why, first they'll smoke a little "weed," then they'll start watching TV and eating junk food... then we'd have total anarchy!

Wow a new trick for the police to avoid actually doing real investigating. Every time they have suspicions about someone they can just phone in a fake fire alarm and then go and investigate the person without warrants. Don't firemen usually respond to fire alarms?

Maybe he got the munchies and raided the bbq.

Marijuana leads to harder substance abuse such as over eating.

Marijuana leads to harder substance abuse such as barbecue.

The man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing dried cannabis.

Can someone explain this one? Does this mean he sucked at growing plants and they were all dead? Or he is just getting arrested for dried mary J? Is it leagal to have green, moist Mary J plants?

27-year old unemployed man ??? Doesn't he have a name ? And isn't "cultivating" considered a form of "farming" ? Maybe we can add another number to Japan's ever increasing farming community... but then again, maybe not !

Oh he was employed alright, self-employed! Probably making more money than the average tennant with less work too. The guy probably got big-headed and started boasting, then somebody ratted him out cuz they got annoyed/scared/envious. ..and a new dealer is born.

Cannabis? Barbecues? Any watermelon or purple drank involved?

I wonder if he'll get the same treatment as the Viet Namese who were nabbed raising a marijuana farm.