A Japanese woman who was found guilty of smuggling methamphetamine into Malaysia is unlikely to escape the death penalty, her lawyer said Friday.
Mariko Takeuchi, 36, was arrested Oct. 31, 2009, for attempting to smuggle 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamine into Malaysia through Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Under Malaysian law, anyone possessing a minimum of 50 grams of methamphetamine is considered to be trafficking in a dangerous drug, which is punishable by death.
Takeuchi told the court she had no knowledge of the drugs, and was doing an acquaintance a favor by bringing the suitcase to Malaysia. She claimed she went to Dubai in October 2009 as a favor to a colleague who wanted her to talk to “Alex,” the colleague’s boyfriend, to see if he would help her out of financial difficulties. Takeuchi said Alex’s driver asked her to deliver a suitcase to Malaysia since she would be transferring there on her way back to Tokyo. The driver, who was to fly to Malaysia the same day on a separate flight, had claimed he had too much baggage and asked Takeuchi to take the suitcase.
“Because he was Alex’s friend and he showed me the contents of the bag, I trusted him,” Takeuchi said. “I did not suspect anything as I saw only clothes in the bag.”
During his cross-examination, chief prosecutor Gan Peng Kun questioned why Takeuchi entered Malaysia six times in September and October 2009.
Takeuchi said, “It is because my discussion with Alex did not bring the desired results so I had to fly to-and-fro between Dubai and Malaysia.”
She had earlier told the court Alex had offered to give her colleague 200,000 yen, but that was too little.
Gan said, “Wouldn’t you agree that the cost of you staying in Dubai would be less than the cost of the flights you took?”
Takeuchi said it was cheaper to fly between Dubai and Malaysia since hotels in Dubai are too expensive.
When asked the name of the driver, Takeuchi said she never asked his name, even when they went out drinking together. She said she just called him “driver.” (In Japanese, people are often addressed by their job titles.)
Takeuchi is the only defense witness. Her lawyer, Sallehuddin Saidin, said from the Japanese embassy following her trial that “the chance of her to win is very slim. At this stage, it is only her word against them.”
Even though we are unlikely to learn all the facts, I personally think Takeuchi’s story is fabricated. The fact that the prosecution couldn’t find this Alex or the driver, who should have been easy to track since Alex was supposedly the boyfriend of Takeuchi’s coworker, makes me think they were made up by Takeuchi. Takeuchi is a former nurse who earned 400,000 yen (almost $5000) per month working at a clinic in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward.
Work in Japan is very demanding, which is why meth is the drug of choice in Japan. Meth was invented in Japan and was given to Japanese servicemen during World War II. Meth can help people work harder and longer with increased concentration. It also causes people to become strung out, with rotting teeth and sallow skin.
My guess is Takeuchi started doing meth to help her cope with the demands of her nursing job and became addicted. She probably lived at home with her parents, as most single Japanese women do, and a large portion of her 400,000 yen salary went to buying meth. She either went into debt and was smuggling the drugs for her yakuza (Japanese mafia) debtors, or she was smuggling it for her personal use. The fact that she invented such an elaborate story makes me think she is protecting someone, perhaps yakuza gangsters who may be threatening to kill her family if she names names.
Whether Takeuchi is lying, the death penalty is too harsh for drug smuggling. Even though Japan itself has a harsh, zero-tolerance policy on drugs, the Japanese embassy should pull some strings and have her extradited to Japan to face punishment there, rather than face Malaysia’s backward laws. I also think the Japanese police should investigate from their end to find out if there was such a yakuza-angle involved in her motive, which could grant her some leniency if she was smuggling the drugs to prevent a greater harm to herself or her family. However, that would require the Japanese police to do some actual work for once, so her chances are slim.
