TOKYO A Hong Kong-born British man was arrested Sunday in connection with the seizure of more than 146 kilograms of stimulant drugs at a warehouse in Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo, police said Monday. Billy NG Kin Shing, 28, was arrested on suspicion of possessing more than 14 kilos of stimulant drugs packed inside a marble pillar in the warehouse, DPA quoted police as saying.

A search of the warehouse yielded over 146 kilos of amphetamines with an estimated street value of 8.8 billion yen (71 million dollars), concealed in 12 marble pillars, they said. The marble columns arrived at a Tokyo port on May 11 after being loaded into a container ship in Hong Kong on May 5. The drugs were discovered during a customs inspection Friday. Meanwhile, a report by Reuters said a teacher from Britain has been arrested in Cambodia and charged with rape for allegedly forcing underage girls to have sex with him, police said on Monday. The man, identified as Philip Gordon William, 37, from Edinburgh in Scotland, said he was innocent after appearing at Phnom Penh municipal court where a preliminary charge under a 1992 law against rape was filed against him.

Police said seven children had given evidence against William, saying they were forced to perform sexual acts for him and were beaten if they refused. Police said one of the girls was 12 years old and another 13. They did not give the ages of the other five girls but said some of them were vendors William had met on the street.