Two Vietnamese Nationals Arrested for Possessing Cannabis for Sale, Saitama House Suspected as Dealing Hub
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On July 16, 2026, the Hyogo Prefectural Police's International Investigation Division and the Kasai Police Station arrested two unemployed, address-unknown Vietnamese men, aged 31 and 25, on the spot on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Act (possession for the purpose of sale). They are accused of possessing bagged cannabis at a house in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture, on the same day. A 40-officer team searched the house and seized 20 plastic bags believed to contain cannabis, along with large quantities of what are believed to be methamphetamine, ketamine, and MDMA.
The crackdown reportedly stemmed from the investigation of a robbery-injury case that occurred in Kasai, Hyogo Prefecture, between November 2025 and January 2026, in which four Vietnamese men in their 20s and 30s were arrested. One of the four was found in possession of methamphetamine, and tracing the source of the drug led investigators to identify the house in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture, as a drug-dealing hub.
Current status: The case is at the arrest stage; whether prosecutors will indict the suspects had not been determined as of this writing.
The fact that an investigation by the Hyogo Prefectural Police led to a crackdown in Saitama Prefecture is notable as an example of investigative methods tracking drug-dealing networks across prefectural borders. Multiple types of illegal drugs were seized from the house believed to be the dealing hub, suggesting the operation may have dealt in more than just cannabis.