TOKYO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Japanese authorities have arrested the Iranian boss of a drug-smuggling group that allegedly hired some 1,000 of his countrymen to peddle hashish in Japan.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Tuesday that police arrested Mahmoud Kadkhodaei, 40, on Oct. 4 at an Iranian restaurant in Tokyo. Kadkhodaei had gone to the restaurant to pick up two kilograms of hashish sent by international mail from Nepal. The drugs were hidden among 290 cassette tapes packed in cardboard boxes.
Kadkhodaei reportedly hired Iranians who had overstayed their visas as dealers. If they did not obey his orders, he would slash them with a large knife, and was known by the dealers as the "king of fear."
At the height of his involvement in the drug business from 2000 to 2002, he earned about $285,000 a month.
Kadkhodaei wrestled for Iran in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
