US Navy sailors using and selling drugs to Japanese: Report
A number of US Navy sailors based in Japan are being investigated for allegedly using and selling drugs to local Japanese people, a spokesperson for the United States Seventh Fleet has confirmed.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was conducting the probe into sailors based in Yokosuka, where the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier is deployed, Cmdr. Clay Doss, public affairs officer for the Seventh Fleet, said on Sunday.
“The Navy has zero tolerance for drug abuse and takes all allegations involving misconduct of our Sailors, Navy civilians and family members very seriously,” Doss said in a statement to the media. “These allegations are still under investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
News of the investigation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. The newspaper said at least a dozen US Navy personnel were being investigated in connection with the alleged use and selling of LSD, ecstasy and other drugs.
Japanese authorities were also participating in the investigation, because the American sailors were suspected of selling drugs to many Japanese people as well, according to the newspaper.
Doss refused to confirm the details provided by the Journal report.
US forces in Japan have a long history of unruly behavior, which together with other reasons, has prompted the majority of the Japanese population to demand their exit.
Numerous anti-US protests have been held in the country, particularly in Okinawa, where some 30,000 US military personnel are stationed. A total of about 50,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan.
In April 2016, a US Marine deployed at the Okinawa air base was charged with the murder of a 20-year-old Japanese woman. And in 2013, two American sailors admitted to raping a woman in Okinawa a year earlier in a case that sparked huge anti-US sentiments in Japan.
In 1995, the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen triggered massive protests, prompting Washington to pledge efforts to strengthen troop discipline to prevent such crimes and reduce US footprint on the island.
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