Investigators search the North Korean freighter Turubong-1 at Sakaiminato、 Tottori Prefecture、on May 12 for allegedly smuggling stimulants into Japan.

The suspects are believed to have used the ship to bring in several hundred kilograms of amphetamines in October of that year.

Those arrested were South Korean national Woo Si-yun, 59, who is believed to be the owner of a mobile phone recovered from a North Korean spy ship that sank in the East China Sea in 2001 after an exchange of fire with Japan Coast Guard vessels; Katsuhiko Miyata, 58, a member of a gang affiliated with the Kyokuto-kai, a major underworld syndicate; and Osamu Gonda, 54, a fishing boat captain from Yonago, Tottori Prefecture.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 20, 2006
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