Japan to raise checks on Russian ships and crew -Shanghai International Maritime Information and Literature website

Japan to raise checks on Russian ships and crew
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PostTime:2010-02-05 07:52:26.0 View:32
The Japan Coastguard (JCG) is to tighten security checks on Russian ships and seafarers in a bid to clamp down on the drugs and gun trade. In its review of maritime crime for 2009, the JCG says Russian drug smugglers continue to feature highly among statistics of marine-drug possession and smuggling with a new trade discovered to the country's northern ports. In 16 cases of drug and gun smuggling from ships intercepted by the JCG, nine involved Russians. Six of them were in possession of cannabis, two were attempting to move large quantities of heroin into the country and one was in possession of a firearm. The coastguard says it is worried about a possible escalation and will be closely monitoring Russian tonnage. The JCG says it uncovered 13 cases of drug smuggling on merchant ships amounting to 137 kilograms (kg) of hard drugs in 2009, half the 21 cases and 308 kg found in the previous year. People trafficking also fell in 2009 from 27 cases in 2008 to 13. Drug traffickers seem to be switching their attention to air transport with a 50% hike in the number of cases detected at airports. Stowaways to Japan are mainly coming from Russia, China and South Korea
Source:Tradewinds Author:Adam Corbett London