GERMAN HELD FOR ALLEGED DRUG SMUGGLING AT NARITA AIRPORT

NARITA, Japan, -- A 30-year-old German has been
arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle marijuana, LSD and other
drugs into Japan in early January, customs and police officials said
Wednesday.

The officials said the drugs had a street value of 213 million yen and
that it was the single largest drug haul at Narita airport since the
airport's opening in 1978.

The suspect was identified as Andreas Baer.

They said the drugs were hidden in a surfboard Baer was carrying when
he arrived at Narita airport from Singapore on Jan. 8.

Baer has denied the allegations, saying he had borrowed the surfboard
from a German friend to go surfing in Bali, Indonesia, the officials
said.

His passport shows visits to Thailand, the Netherlands, France and
Singapore between Dec. 31 and Jan. 8, and he carried an air ticket to
France when found with the drugs, the officials said.