More university students arrested over growing, importing cannabis

TOKYO, Nov. 15 Kyodo -
Four more university students -- three from Waseda and another from the Tokyo
University of Science -- were arrested earlier this year over growing or
importing cannabis, law enforcement sources said Saturday, in the latest
revelation of arrests of college students in similar cases.
A 21-year-old man, a junior in the School of Commerce at Waseda University, was
arrested in August by drug enforcement officials of the health ministry for
growing cannabis in a condominium in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
He bought seeds from an Internet shop run by Kotaro Ochiai, a 34-year-old Tokyo
man, who was arrested earlier for abetting others in violation of the Cannabis
Control Law, according to the officials.
In a separate case, two other Waseda University students and a Tokyo University
of Science student were arrested by Chiba prefectural police after trying to
smuggle cannabis into Japan in an airmail parcel that arrived in May on a
flight from Amsterdam to Narita International Airport near Tokyo.
The three Waseda students were all formally charged and found guilty and given
suspended sentences in court.
One of the two arrested by the Chiba police is a student from Malaysia and the
other a student with dual nationality of Japan and the United States and both
have been expelled, according to the university.
Ochiai's arrest has led to revelations of a string of alleged cannabis law
violations including the August arrest of the Waseda student.
A number of other college students were arrested earlier this year for
violating the cannabis law. They include students at Doshisha University, Keio
University, Kansai University and Hosei University.
==Kyodo
2008-11-15 22:08:09