A Japanese politician has been formally arrested in China for transporting drugs, the Guangzhou Procuratorate said yesterday.

Takuma Sakuragi, the city councilor of Inazawa in central Aichi Prefecture, was detained at Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou on October 31 after 3 kilograms of methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were found in his luggage.

He was held at the Guangzhou detention center in the southern Guangdong Province since then. His arrest was approved by the Guangzhou Procuratorate last Friday.

Sakuragi, 70, could face the death penalty.

He arrived in China on October 29 and was due to take flight CZ3613 from Guangzhou to Shanghai on October 31 before heading back to Japan. Airport security found the drugs hidden in shoes inside his luggage.

Inazawa officials said the city councilor was in China for his private business. An earlier report said Sakuragi denied carrying the drugs, saying the luggage was given to him by his business partner, who is from Nigeria.

The Guangzhou Procuratorate said they had arrested two other suspects on November 18 and 19.

According to the Chinese law, possession of 50 or more grams of the stimulant drugs, such as methamphetamine, carries the death penalty.