Accused Japanese politician's lawyer goes on the offensive in meth trial
Two phone calls at the end of a trip to Guangzhou imply behaviour different to that of someone who knows he's running drugs, defence lawyer argues
Two phone calls between a 70-year-old Japanese politician accused of carrying illegal drugs and a business associate who handed him the suitcase in which the drugs were found were part of the evidence presented by the politician’s lawyer on Wednesday in Guangzhou.
Takuma Sakuragi is on trial in Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, accused of carrying a suitcase that contained more than 3kg of methamphetamines. The defence strategy of his lawyer, Chen Weixiong, is that Sakuragi was an unwitting drug courier for a Nigerian contact, Gemadi Hassan.
Testimony given on Wednesday established that Sakuragi had called Aly Yattabare, 35, of Mali – an associate of Hassan – twice before boarding a flight at Guangzhou’s airport on his way back to Japan. Chen argued that the calls reflected a Japanese custom reflecting gratitude for a good time had during his visit to Guangzhou. Chen argued that if his client had known there were illegal drugs inside the suitcase, they would have refrained from further contact after the drug exchange.
Sakuragi had agreed to carry the suitcase for Hassan to be passed to Hassan’s wife in Japan, which he was told contained female platform shoes. After Yattabare handed the suitcase to Sakuragi in the hotel, Sakuragi told the court on Wednesday that he had briefly checked the luggage and found nothing suspicious. He reiterated he did not know what was hidden inside.
Two days later at the airport, 28 bags of methamphetamine, weighing 3,289 grams were found hidden inside the retractable handle of the suitcase and within the soles of the shoes.
Another argument Chen presented on Wednesday was that the meth had been hidden in such a professional manner that the signs of modification were undetected by the human eye and weren’t found until the bag was run through x-ray scanners.
Sakuragi’s wife was also ready to take the witness stand on Wednesday to testify to her husband’s character. Chen said before the session that she would describe him as “a Christian as well as the fact that even though he’s an experienced politician, Sakuragi is a lousy businessman”.
