Chunichi Shimbun reporter held over growing of cannabis.

NAGOYA, April 12 Kyodo

Police on Thursday arrested a reporter of the Chunichi Shimbun, a major regional newspaper, on suspicion of growing cannabis at a condominium in Nagoya last month.

Hisashi Nihommatsu, 37, who works in the daily's office in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, is suspected of raising 20 cannabis plants along with an acquaintance at the condominium in violation of the Cannabis Control Law, the police said.

The police also searched the Kanazawa office and other places.

The acquaintance, Hiroaki Sahashi, 28, a company worker in Nagoya, has been indicted on charges of possessing cannabis. Investigators also plan to press cannabis cultivation charges against him, they said.

Nihommatsu has admitted to growing the plants, police sources said.

The police suspect the two also smoked the cannabis.

Investigators said Nihommatsu had been growing cannabis at his home in Nagoya in 1996 when he became acquainted with Sahashi, then a university student working part-time at the newspaper's Nagoya headquarters, and the two began jointly cultivating cannabis plants later.

Nihommatsu rented the condominium in 1998 to hide the cannabis cultivation from his family. They allegedly raised 40 to 50 plants at one time, producing about 100 grams of cannabis, according to investigations.

The suspect joined the Chunichi Shimbun in April 1982 and was transferred from the Nagoya head office to the Kanazawa office last August. He allegedly instructed Sahashi to mail dried cannabis to him, the police said.

Takeshi Nokubi, managing editor at the daily's Kanazawa office, said he is very surprised at Nihommatsu's arrest because the reporter was a diligent worker. The daily will examine the facts and take strict measures if necessary, he added.