Tokyo police have arrested five men on suspicion of smuggling amphetamines from China for profit, the police said Thursday.

Among the five was Ritsu Uchiyama, 50, a self-styled freelance journalist and a resident of Tokyo's Nakano Ward.

The suspects allegedly smuggled about 4.5 kilograms of amphetamines, worth 270 million yen in street value, in 17 retort food packages on a charter flight from Shanghai to Tokyo's Haneda airport on May 7.

Customs officials at Haneda airport found the amphetamines hidden in the baggage of three of the five suspects, who were used as couriers, the police said.

The police rounded up the three on the spot and arrested Uchiyama and the remaining accomplice later.

Uchiyama has denied the allegations, telling investigators he was given the packages as a gift from a Chinese national, but he had no knowledge of the contents of the packages, according to the police.

The stimulant drug control law sets punishment of imprisonment for life or more than three years for smuggling stimulant drugs to Japan for profit.