The Fukuoka District Court sentenced a Taiwanese man to life imprisonment on Wednesday and fined him 8 million yen for smuggling a record amount of amphetamines into Japan last year.
Hsieh Ming-chiang, a 37-year-old crew member of a Taiwan-registered fishing vessel, received the sentence in a smuggling case in which 564 kg of amphetamines, the largest haul ever in Japan, were seized in October in the town of Kasasa, Kagoshima Prefecture.
The court also sentenced Hsieh's compatriot and the captain of the vessel, Deng Ching-ti, 40, to 13 years in prison and a fine of 4 million yen. A third man, Zeng Tsukuang, 34, from China, received a 10-year prison term and a fine of 3 million yen.
Prosecutors had demanded a life prison term and a 10 million yen fine for Hsieh and 15 years in prison and a 5 million yen fine for the two other suspects.
"The incident posed a high risk to Japanese society," presiding Judge Hiroo Suyama said.
"Hong Kong and Taiwanese crime syndicates played the key role and (I) suspect Hsieh was the on-the-spot commander."
Hsieh conspired with others to load 560 bags of amphetamines onto the vessel from an unidentified ship and smuggled them into Japan on Oct. 3 after transferring the drugs to a rubber dinghy, the ruling said.