Global Ganja Report

Malaysian airport authorities have been placed on a "red alert" against drug trafficking following a surge over the past year in arrests and drug seizures. Customs officers are screening all inbound passengers to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The airport's customs director M. Govinden said 195 kilograms (430 pounds) of drugs had been seized and 33 people arrested at the city's two air terminals so far this year, despite Malaysia's tough anti-drug laws which include a mandatory death sentence for traffickers.

Govinden added that drug seizures were at their highest level in a decade. In October, a Malaysian court sentenced a Japanese woman to death for smuggling methamphetamines into the country—the first such case involving a citizen of Japan. Mariko Takeuchi, a nurse, 37, was convicted of transporting 7.7 pounds (3.5 kilograms) of meth in a suitcase when she flew from Dubai. (AFP, Dec. 29; AP, Oct. 25)

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