A statue similar to the gold statues that were smuggled by Japanese men. (Source: mavangvn.vn)Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi People’s Procuracyhas completed the indictment prosecuting two Japanese men for smuggling sevengolden statues through the Noi Bai International Airport.
Iwamura Masakazu, 46, and Kitada Takayoshi, 34, were prosecutedfor smuggling under clause 153, article 4, point a of the Criminal Code.
According to the indictment, Iwamura Masakazu was formerdirector of the Japanese-based RG Innovation Company, a broker in bringing Vietnameselabourers to Japan.
Knowing that the handicraft gold products in Japan arepriced very high, he decided to buy gold products in Vietnam to bring them backfor sale in Japan.
Through Vietnamese friends in Japan, who said thatthey have relatives trading gold in Vietnam and handicraft gold products can bebought at cheap prices, Iwamura Masakazu and Kitada Takayoshi devised a plan tobuy handicraft gold products in Vietnam and sell them in Japan.
In early July 2016, Iwamura Masakazu and KitadaTakayoshi came to the Sinh Dien gold and jewelry shop on Ngo Gia Tu street,Tien An ward, Bac Ninh city (northern Bac Ninh province) to see models andprices.
After negotiations on volume and price, IwamuraMasakazu asked the shop owner to mould seven gold statues, including four DiLac (Maitreya) Buddha statues and three Mr. Tam Da statues.
Iwamura Masakazu gave Kitada Takayoshi 32.3 million JPY(287,000 USD) to buy the seven statues and promised to pay him 80,000 JPY (711USD) if they are brought to Japan successfully.
In order to avoid the inspection of Vietnam’s customs,Iwamura Masakazu told Kitada Takayoshi to coat the gold statues with a silverlayer.
According to the plan, on August 2, 2016, KitadaTakayoshi arrived in the Sinh Dien gold & jewelry shop to receive the goldstatues, weighing 6.974 kilogrammes in total, at the price of 31.555 millionJPY.
On August 3, 2016, the Noi Bai International Airport’scustoms inspected and discovered the statues in Kitada Takayoshi’s hand luggagewithout declarations.
Examinations showed all the seven statues are made ofgold with purity of 99.99 percent, weighing 6.794 kilogrammes and worth 6.749billion VND.-VNA
