It looks like Japan is trying to close the trade gap in narcotics (The Korea Times):
A Japanese gangster and two Korean accomplices were apprehended and indicted Monday for having allegedly smuggled a large amount of philopon into the country.
The Busan District Prosecutors’ Office said this is the first time a yakuza member was detained for such a crime. The case underlines that Korea has become one of the main consumer nations for the drug.
An unidentified 53-year-old Japanese national was indicted for attempting to sell 1,021 grams of philopon, together with his Korean partners, identified as a Park and a Lee. They attempted to sell the drugs to some Korean traffickers at a hotel in Seoul last month.
The drugs, worth 3 billion won ($2.1 million), are equivalent to 30,000 doses, according to the prosecution. The offenders managed to pack the drugs in four plastic bags and were ready to send illegal gains to Japanese yakuza leaders, prosecutors said.
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1,021 grams = 30,000 doses? That’s 0.034g/dose. At 십만원 a dose. Or close to 3 million KRW a gram. I am definitely in the wrong business — or the “journalist” (using the term loosely) is not very good with numbers…
Considering a surprisingly high percentage of today’s yakuza are in fact ethnic Koreans, it is remarkable we do not hear more of this kind of story.
I have long suspected there has been an ethnic Korean connection with the illegal narcotic trade in Japan between the yakuza and N Korea, but I have yet to come across any proof.
This event may be totally unrelated to my suspicions, but I would nominate it as being possible circumstantial evidence.
it’s speed, right?
“A Japanese gangster and two Korean accomplices were apprehended smuggling philopon into the country.”
Sounds like the heart thumping love plot to this summer’s biggest blockbuster.
@3: (anyone, correct me if I’m wrong), Philopon is amphetamine mixed with caffeine, a popular Thai trucker drug that makes you zoom (zoom zoom!) all day long. I’m not sure where it’s more popular here, with students, bored ajumma’s, or 3D workers. Zoom Zoom Zoom!!!~
Pilopon is just the jap brand name for your garden variety meth. It’s hella expensive, and people here don’t smoke it, they inject it.
It’s kinda funny that Meth was first brewed up from ephedrine in Japan in like 1900 or something. Japan: Still keeping the Korean clubber down.
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