Skip to content.

Securoseal

(Japan & Hong Kong): Anger at Tokyo drugs dog test

Wednesday, 28 May 2008

  • Source: The Standard

  • Date: 28/5/2008

  • Description:  Anger at Tokyo drugs dog test

    • Link: [Click here]

  • Anger at Tokyo drugs dog test

    Government officials, legislators and travel industry heads were at one in condemning an incident where Japanese customs slipped cannabis into a Hong Kong passenger's luggage as part of a sniffer dog test and lost track of it.

    //-->Timothy Chui

    Wednesday, May 28, 2008

  • Government officials, legislators and travel industry heads were at one in condemning an incident where Japanese customs slipped cannabis into a Hong Kong passenger's luggage as part of a sniffer dog test and lost track of it.

     

  • Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong said the case was a total breach of customs guidelines and the government will express its concern to Tokyo.

     

  • The Travel Industry Council has sent a stinging letter to the Japan National Tourist Organization expressing outrage. "I think the Japanese government should be held responsible. We've never encountered this situation before and it's amazing that these are the actions of a customs officer," executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung said.

     

  • The practice should be stopped, he said, or people would hesitate to travel to Japan.

     

  • Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun said: "They can use their own personnel and luggage for training, but they have no right to use other people's luggage.

     

  • "They have put the public in harm's way. What would happen if the passenger flies out of Japan to a country like Singapore, which has a death penalty for drug trafficking? It's totally irresponsible."

     

  • The passenger has declined to press charges, but has asked Cathay Pacific to lodge a complaint and demand compensation, according to To.

     

  • The blunder occurred at Narita airport on Sunday when an officer planted a metal box containing cannabis in the Hong Kong traveler's bag. When the dog failed the test, the passenger walked away with 142 grams of cannabis. After calling all 280 passengers, officials traced the passenger and recovered the drugs at a Tokyo hotel.

     

  • The Japanese consulate-general in Hong Kong apologized last night, saying it will launch an investigation and reprimand the customs officer. It also promised there will be no repeat of the incident.