YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- A former Yokosuka sailor extradited to Japan last month for allegedly smuggling drugs through the military mail system has been indicted, the Yokohama prosecutor’s office said Wednesday.

Jonathan Octavio Nunez, 31, was charged Tuesday under the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act and Stimulant Drugs Control Act, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said.

Nunez faces allegations that in 2004, he mailed drugs to the post boxes of two civilians at Yokosuka Naval Base. The mailed drugs reportedly included more than 30,000 doses of MDMA — commonly known as Ecstasy — 20,000 doses of narcotics containing a mixture of MDMA and methamphetamine, and 140 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

In November 2004, Babe Antonio Cole and William Eugene Jenkins, the civilians who received the packages, each were sentenced in Yokohama District Court to seven years in prison and $30,000 in fines.

After his arrest in south Florida in 2010, Nunez spent the years appealing a federal magistrate’s extradition order. He arrived in Japan under police custody on a Japanese commercial flight in July.

No trial date has been scheduled, Yokohama District Court officials said Wednesday. The case is expected to be heard by a panel of judges and jurors, court officials said.

Japan has integrated juror panels into its justice system since reintroducing the concept in 2009.

Combined judge and juror panels hear cases for serious crimes such as homicide, arson of inhabited buildings and kidnapping for ransom.

Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.

slavin.erik@stripes.comTwitter: @eslavin_stripes

Migrated