Japan city politician arrested on China drugs charges

TOKYO, Japan- A 70-year-old local Japanese politician has been arrested in China on drugs charges, officials said Friday, in a case that could draw the death penalty.

The septuagenarian, who was detained at the airport on October 31 in the southern metropolis Guangzhou, had three kilos of what are suspected to be illegal stimulants, the Japanese foreign ministry said, citing Chinese authorities.

“At present, the local authorities are going through legal procedures to put him on trial,” a Japanese official said.

He did not identify the suspect.

But officials in the central Japanese city of Inazawa identified the man as Takuma Sakuragi and said the city councillor was in China for his private trading business.

A city council spokesman said Sakuragi has denied the charges.

The case comes after four Japanese nationals were executed in China in 2010 for carrying illegal drugs.

Possession of 50 or more grams of so-called stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine can draw the death penalty in China, which is known for its harsh drug laws.

Japanese media quoted a long-time associate of Sakuragi as saying the five-term city politician may have been framed due to his hard-line stance on diplomacy with neighbours China and South Korea.

Tokyo is embroiled in separate territorial rows with Beijing and Seoul which routinely accuse Japan of failing to atone for its military aggression during the first half of the 20th Century.

“I am very surprised (at the arrest),” the suspect’s associate Kenji Sasaki told Japan’s Jiji Press news agency.

“There might be some political angle to this case.”