Anti-drug inspection beefed up

The CNMI Division of Customs has stepped up its anti-drug campaign by increasing the number of personnel deployed in several ports of entry to conduct surveillance and inspection of baggage.

On Tinian, customs officers are seen conducting random inspection on arriving passengers including visiting tourists to check hand-carry bags and packages for possible entry of illegal drugs on island.

Sniffing dogs are stationed at the San Jose Harbor on Tinian to detect uncontrolled substance possibly in possession of arriving visitors and residents through the ferry.

The immediate call for action was necessitated by the recent arrest of three Japanese tourists who tried to sneak in some 40 grams of crystal metamphetamine or “ice” with a street value of $60,000.

In addition, the Commonwealth Ports Authority has also increased monitoring and surveillance of arriving passengers to effectively carry out the government’s anti-drug campaign.

Officials believed that the incident might result to extensive review of earlier reports that the Northern Marianas is being used as transshipment point of some drug syndicates.

Late last year, customs officials were figured in a similar incident after Rota-bound mails were detected with illegal drugs.

Customs officials are eyeing the possibility that a syndicate behind intercepted mails containing drugs is using CNMI as its transit point.

Security measures on Rota and Saipan Postal Service were earlier beefed up following the continued arrival of cards from the Philippines since December last year.

The intercepted mail yielded a prohibited drug with street price of $5,000. The same incident occurred in December and early this year.

Customs officials dispatched K-9 sniffing dogs to detect drugs from incoming cargoes and to determine whether unregulated drugs are being shipped in to the Commonwealth.

The customs division has been strictly implementing its inspection system, including passengers arriving on Tinian and Rota from Guam, mainly because of reports that ice is being imported into the neighboring island unprocessed.

Reports claimed Saipan is slowly turning into a major importer of crystal methamphetamine with customs division reported to have confiscated over $2.5 million worth of highly-prohibited drugs in 1998 alone.

The report further said that Saipan has been used as entry point for illegal drugs that are smuggled to Hawaii, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, and other areas in the Pacific and the United States.

Early this week, authorities arrested Masanobu Miyamoto and Takayuki Kaji and charged Conspiracy to Import a Schedule II Controlled Substance and are facing from five to 14 years of imprisonment.

A third suspect and purported mastermind, Masakazu Imamura, is also facing the same charges after Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Kaji pointed him as the source of the cache of illegal drugs.

According to Customs Director Jose Mafnas, the two Japanese were apprehended after members of the Customs Enforcement Team performed a routine search on them.

Customs agents inspected Mr. Miyamoto’s belongings and body searched him which led to the discovery of approximately 39.6 grams of the illegal substance which was strapped on his waist.

The search on Mr. Kaji, on the other hand, yielded a large quantity of empty ziplock baggies, which according to Assistant US Attorney John J. Rice is commonly used in packaging crystal methamphetamine for sale in the black market.

The three traveled together on Japan Airlines Flight 949 originating from Kansai, Japan. According to Attorney Rice and Director Mafnas, authorities have long kept an eye on Mr. Imamura and his and his companions arrest is a culmination of effective cooperation between the Customs Division and the federal agency. (EGA)