Regarding the May 28 article "Customs loses pot in traveler's bag": It is with great sadness that I read the story about how a customs official at Narita International Airport hid drugs in a Hong Kong traveler's suitcase for a "training exercise."
If customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, then, just out of curiosity, why didn't the "customs official" do that? What if, by some horrible turn of events, the innocent passenger (of course, a foreigner) was accused of smuggling drugs into Japan? Who would believe him? After all, the drugs were in his suitcase!
Perhaps Japan needs to alert all visitors to the fact that their bags might be used for training and that they should be prepared to be arrested in case customs officials make a "mistake." Either that, or the customs official concerned should apologize to everyone and be fired immediately.
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