Arrested Toyota exec says painkiller not prescribed for her
An American executive at Toyota Motor suspected of violating Japan’s drug laws by importing a narcotic painkiller has told police that the tablets in question were not prescribed for her, investigative sources said Thursday, reports Reuters.
Julie Hamp, 55, also said that she asked her father to make the shipment of the painkiller oxycodone, which was sent by parcel post to Japan from the United States earlier this month.
Japan does not allow the drug, which is used for medical purposes, to be sent through the post.
Tokyo police are considering sending officers to the United States to verify Hamp’s statement and confirm other aspects of the investigation.
Hamp has denied having had an intention to import drugs, while telling investigators that the oxycodone tablets were intended to alleviate knee pain.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested her June 18 on suspicion of having 57 oxycodone tablets delivered in a package from an airport in the U.S. state of Kentucky to Narita airport near Tokyo.
On Tuesday, the police searched Toyota’s headquarters in Aichi Prefecture in connection with the case.
In Japan, oxycodone is often used to alleviate pain experienced by cancer patients during their treatment. It cannot be purchased without a doctor’s prescription and a person who wants to bring in oxycodone into Japan needs permission from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
As consuming a large dose of oxycodone can have a euphoric effect similar to heroin, its misuse has become a problem in the United States.
The police have said earlier that the customs label on the package sent to Hamp declared the contents to be a necklace and that the oxycodone pills were placed in the bottom of the package with some of the pills inside an accessory case.
Hamp, a former General Motors Co. and PepsiCo Inc. executive, was appointed in April as Toyota’s first female managing officer and chief communications officer.