Tokyo – Six people were arrested on suspicion of possessing quantities of what the Health Ministry has described as “dangerous drugs’’ authorities said on Thursday.
Authorities said that the “dangerous drugs’’ has a similar composition to banned narcotic substances and anti-drugs.
According to the health ministry’s anti-drug officials, 20 kilogrammes of the drugs, comprising herbs and chemicals, were found in a house belonging to a 50-year-old man in Kawasaki city, south of Tokyo, in September.
Anti-drug enforcement officers in a subsequent search of the house, also uncovered 180 kg of the drugs, which included other ingredients such as powder, along with 1.6 tonnes of herbs, in the largest-ever seizure of such dangerous drugs.
According to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, the street value of the drugs is estimated to be over 26.36 million U.S. dollars.
The officers’ also uncovered equipment likely used to produce or mix the drugs including centrifuges, NHK reported.
Out of the six that were arrested, 50-year-old Manabu Iwamura, has admitted the charges and was quoted as saying that he began the illicit business three years ago, and over the past two years he had been netting monthly revenue of 180,000 U.S. dollars.
In total, the suspects are believed to have sold nine million U.S. dollars-worth of the drugs through online sales.