POLICE and Customs officers arrested on Friday two persons who were allegedly found in possession of 65 grams of crystal methamphetamine with a street value of $52,000.
Chizuwa Manabu, 36, and his girlfriend, Iida Nobuko, 27, were held for illegal possession and trafficking of controlled substance.
A $30,000 cash bail was initially set for each defendant. Both defendants were taken to court yesterday morning, but Superior Court Presiding Judge Edward Manibusan continued the hearing in the afternoon after learning that no Japanese interpreter was available in the courtroom.
Assistant Attorney General Daniel Cohan appeared on behalf of the government.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Pete C. Muna said police officers from the Special Investigation Section and personnel from the Customs Investigation Unit executed a search warrant on a vehicle rented by the suspects.
Muna said Manabu and Nobuko were arrested at the parking lot of Paradise Poker in Garapan after investigators found in the vehicle a bag containing 21 zip-loc bags filled with crystal methamphetamine. A field test was conducted and the result was presumptive positive of “ice,” said Muna, citing the police report.
He said Nobuko later admitted to a police officer that the seized bag belonged to her boyfriend, Manabu.
Muna said aside from the drugs, also confiscated from the suspects were a large amount of money and a weighing scale.
According to court papers, Manabu admitted to a police officer that the “ice” found in the bag were his and that he brought them from Japan when he arrived here last April 25.
Manabu also reportedly confessed that he brought the drugs to sell on the island. He claimed that he had already sold 10 grams of “ice” to a man for $2,500.
Manabu also stated that when he arrived on Saipan, he hid the “ice” in the sole of his shoes, court documents said.
