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Japanese police find 74 packets of cocaine inside foreign traveler complaining of stomach pains

Japanese police find 74 packets of cocaine inside foreign traveler complaining of stomach pains

Japan Today4 hours ago

By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24
In April, customs officials at Osaka's Kansai International Airport learned that a woman who was trying to enter Japan had crammed a sock into the crotch of her clothing.
Apparently the bulge wasn't immediately visually apparent, but an officer noticed that the traveler, a 35-year-old Brazilian woman named Jessica Ramos de Souza, looked unusually tense while she was going through the standard customs process. She was then flagged for a more comprehensive examination of her luggage and person, which turned up 13 packets of cocaine, including a number that Souza had hidden inside the sock that she'd hidden inside her pants.
At some point in the examination, Souza began to complain of stomach pains, so she was taken to a hospital for a medical examination, and X-rays quickly determined the source of her discomfort: 74 more packets of cocaine, in condom-like encasings, which she'd swallowed, presumably in hopes of sticking to a timetable in which she would have passed through customs and been out of the airport quickly enough to get to a secluded space and expel the packets from her body before the discomfort became unbearable.
In total, Souza had 675.5 grams of cocaine on/in her when she entered Japan. Souza has been placed under arrest on charges of violating Japan's narcotics control law. She has admitted to smuggling the cocaine, but says that she had no intention of selling it, a claim which may or may not hold up as the authorities continue to investigate the original source of the drugs and potential accomplices.
This is a good spot to remind everyone that Japan's criminal justice system does not fool around when it comes to drugs, and Souza's arrest not becoming public knowledge until more than a month after the incident means that anyone caught smuggling is likely to be sitting in lockup for a very long time even if they somehow manage to avoid going to trial.
Source: Asahi ABC News via Yahoo! Japan News, NHK News Web
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Japanese police investigate report of foreigner spreading white powder on street in Hyogo
-- Japanese police ask drunk people to please stop sleeping in the middle of the street
-- Salaryman gives drunk female coworker a ride home, gets beaten into unconsciousness for it
External Link
https://soranews24.com/2025/06/06/japanese-police-find-74-packets-of-cocaine-inside-foreign-traveler-complaining-of-stomach-pains/
© SoraNews24

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Japanese police find 74 packets of cocaine inside foreign traveler complaining of stomach pains
Japanese police find 74 packets of cocaine inside foreign traveler complaining of stomach pains

Japan Today

time4 hours ago

  • Japan Today

Japanese police find 74 packets of cocaine inside foreign traveler complaining of stomach pains

By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24 In April, customs officials at Osaka's Kansai International Airport learned that a woman who was trying to enter Japan had crammed a sock into the crotch of her clothing. Apparently the bulge wasn't immediately visually apparent, but an officer noticed that the traveler, a 35-year-old Brazilian woman named Jessica Ramos de Souza, looked unusually tense while she was going through the standard customs process. She was then flagged for a more comprehensive examination of her luggage and person, which turned up 13 packets of cocaine, including a number that Souza had hidden inside the sock that she'd hidden inside her pants. At some point in the examination, Souza began to complain of stomach pains, so she was taken to a hospital for a medical examination, and X-rays quickly determined the source of her discomfort: 74 more packets of cocaine, in condom-like encasings, which she'd swallowed, presumably in hopes of sticking to a timetable in which she would have passed through customs and been out of the airport quickly enough to get to a secluded space and expel the packets from her body before the discomfort became unbearable. In total, Souza had 675.5 grams of cocaine on/in her when she entered Japan. Souza has been placed under arrest on charges of violating Japan's narcotics control law. She has admitted to smuggling the cocaine, but says that she had no intention of selling it, a claim which may or may not hold up as the authorities continue to investigate the original source of the drugs and potential accomplices. This is a good spot to remind everyone that Japan's criminal justice system does not fool around when it comes to drugs, and Souza's arrest not becoming public knowledge until more than a month after the incident means that anyone caught smuggling is likely to be sitting in lockup for a very long time even if they somehow manage to avoid going to trial. Source: Asahi ABC News via Yahoo! Japan News, NHK News Web Read more stories from SoraNews24. -- Japanese police investigate report of foreigner spreading white powder on street in Hyogo -- Japanese police ask drunk people to please stop sleeping in the middle of the street -- Salaryman gives drunk female coworker a ride home, gets beaten into unconsciousness for it External Link © SoraNews24

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There was a hit-and-run incident involving elementary school students on May 14 in Misato, Saitama Prefecture. A Chinese national working as a demolition worker was arrested on May 19 on suspicion of having consumed alcohol shortly before the accident. Police also arrested an unemployed Peruvian national suspected of causing a multicar accident after they allegedly drove more than 14 kilometers in the wrong direction on the Shin-Meishin Expressway in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, on May 18. The foreign license conversion system, introduced in 1933, was initially designed to help Japanese nationals smoothly obtain Japanese driver's licenses upon returning from abroad. However, since 1990, the number of foreign nationals using the system has surpassed that of Japanese nationals. Last year, foreign nationals accounted for 94% of all foreign license conversions, totaling 69,283 individuals. By country of origin, those from Vietnam led the way with 16,810 license conversions, followed by those from China with 15,458 — about a 40% increase from the previous year. This increase is believed to be due in part to the topic of 'Japan's driver's licenses are easy to obtain' gaining traction on social media. There are three main ways for foreign nationals to drive in Japan: first, by using an International Driving Permit issued by a signatory country to the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic; second, by driving with a foreign driver's license from one of six designated countries and regions, including Germany and Taiwan, along with an official Japanese translation of that license; and third, by converting an existing foreign driver's license to a Japanese one. The foreign license conversion process is generally a two-stage examination, consisting of a written knowledge test and a practical skills test. In 2023, the combined pass rate was 91%. 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