U.S. women arrested for allegedly smuggling $1 million worth of drugs to Japan, one claims she was motivated by free trip

September 11, 2026 / 10:12 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

Tokyo police arrested two American women for allegedly smuggling $1 million worth of cannabis into the country, with one suspect claiming she was motivated by a free trip to Japan, an official and media reports said Friday.

The pair, both 25, arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport from New York last Saturday with two suitcases in which "cannabis-like dried plants were secretly stored," a police spokesman told AFP.

Nippon TV aired images of the drug seizure, showing more than a dozen packages containing the alleged cannabis.

Japan has some of the world's strictest drug laws and smuggling or possession of illegal narcotics can result in a lengthy jail term.

The dried cannabis weighed around 30 kilograms (66 pounds) and is valued at about 150 million yen ($970,000), media reported.

One of the women told police she took the job for the money and because, "I was attracted by the fact I could go to Japan for free," Nippon TV reported.

The other suspect denies the allegation, telling police she "didn't know that cannabis was inside" the suitcase, the Tokyo Shimbun reported, citing unnamed police sources.

The women "conspired with someone else whose…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/