Australian woman accused of drug smuggling in Japan says she is innocent as trial begins

Associated Press

CHIBA, Japan (AP) — An Australian woman accused of smuggling amphetamines in a suitcase appeared in a Japanese court on Monday nearly two years after her arrest, saying she is innocent and that she was tricked into carrying them as part of an online romance scam. Donna Nelson from Perth, Australia, was arrested at Japan’s Narita International Airport just outside Tokyo when customs officials found about 4.4 pounds of stimulants, or phenylaminopropane, hidden in a double-bottom suitcase she was carrying. Nelson, 58, said she received the suitcase from an acquaintance of a man she met on social media and brought it from Laos to Tokyo as instructed. She said she did not know the drugs were hidden in the suitcase.