Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jul 2005
Source: Mainichi Daily News (Japan)
Copyright: 2005 The Mainichi Newspapers Co.
Contact:  http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3807

OFF-DUTY COP BUSTED FOR DRUG POSSESSION

A police officer has been arrested for possession of a recently 
banned drug in Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said.

Atsushi Sakamoto, 25, a senior officer at Shimotsuma Police Station 
in Ibaraki Prefecture, is accused of violating the Narcotics and 
Psychotropics Control Law through possession of the illegal drug "5-MeO-DIPT."

Sakamoto admitted to the allegations during questioning, police said. 
Investigators are grilling him over how he obtained the stimulant.

Ibaraki Prefectural Police were apologetic over the incident.

"It's indeed regrettable that a police officer has been arrested on 
such charges. We deeply apologize. We'll take strict punitive 
measures while watching the development of MPD investigations into 
the case," Eiji Nakabayashi, head of the prefectural force, said in a 
statement.

At around 11:20 p.m. last Friday, a police officer approached 
Sakamoto to question him in his car at a parking lot in Shinjuku-ku, 
Tokyo, and found him in possession of 0.01 grams of 5-MeO-DIPT, MPD 
investigators said. He was off duty at the time.

The prefectural police ordered him to stay home until the MPD took 
him into custody on Tuesday.

It had been legal to possess the drug until the government placed it 
on a list of illegal narcotics in April this year. (Mainichi)