"I'm assuming the Japanese DEA handles the same sort of things our DEA handles. Drug smuggling, controlled substances, etc etc."

This is much more fun to think about than the fact Togusa got shot.

"They easy answer is they were a front for a drug smuggling ring. Pose as something heart wrenching and you can get away with a lot of things."

But that's too... simplistic.

"You told me that the treatment for cyberbrain schlerosis is more micromachines. It stands to reason some people might be uncomfortable with that. Maybe they felt micro machines had already ruined their life of the life of their family member enough. So they start looking for alternatives. Maybe some of those alternatives aren't quite legal?"