Police raided a North Korean ship suspected of being used for smuggling drugs, after it arrived Friday at a port in western Japan.
Police boarded the freighter Turubong-1, which arrived at Sakai port on Japan's west coast shortly after noon, Kyodo News reported. The ship is suspected of being used to smuggle illegal amphetamine stimulants to Japan in October 2002.
Three men wanted in connection with the 2002 drug-smuggling operation were arrested. They included one South Korean, Woo Si Yun, and two Japanese: gang member Katsuhiko Miyata and fishing boat operator Osamu Gonda.
Woo is believed to be the owner of a cell phone that was seized from a North Korean vessel that sank following a gun battle with coast guard officers in December 2001.
Japanese police suspect that Woo arranged the import of several hundred kilograms of amphetamine drugs, Miyata took charge of the delivery of the drugs, and Gonda skippered the fishing boat to recover them, Kyodo reported.
© Copyright 2006 by United Press International
