Julie Hamp, Toyota Motor Corp.'s new head of public relations, speaks during a press conference in Toyota, central Japan, Wednesday, June 17, 2015. Hamp was arrested Thursday, June 18, on suspicion of importing an illegal pain medicine into Japan, Tokyo police said. Hamp, an American, was appointed in April as Toyota's first female top executive. She had been moving her things to Japan from California, where she had been head of communications for Toyota's U.S. operations. (Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY (The Associated Press)
TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda says an American executive arrested on suspicion of importing a controlled drug into japan had no intention of breaking the law.
Julie Hamp, Toyota's head of public relations and its first senior woman executive, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of importing the painkiller oxycodone.
At a hastily called news conference Friday, Toyoda bowed briefly and apologized for the troubles set off by the arrest of Hamp, who was tapped as Toyota's head of public relations in April.
He declined to go into details of the allegations, only repeating several times that the company was cooperating fully with the investigation.
The drug was found by customs officials in a package Hamp sent to herself by air mail from the United States.
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