Video: 'Paul McCartney Arrested in Tokyo on Marijuana Possession - CBS Evening News - January 16, 1980'

(Wednesday, January 16, 1980, 3:00 p.m. Japan Standard Time) — Former Beatle Paul McCartney was taken into custody for alleged possession of about a half-pound of marijuana after arriving at Tokyo International Airport today, Japanese customs officials said.

A two-week Japanese concert tour by his current group Wings was canceled as a result.

The officials quoted the 37-year-old rock star, who was led away in handcuffs, as saying he had “brought some hemp for my smoking.” Japanese authorities use the term “hemp” for marijuana.

McCartney flew to Tokyo with his wife, Linda, four children and members of Wings to begin an 11-concert tour, his first in Japan since he visited here with the Beatles 14 years ago, at the height of that British rock group’s worldwide success.

Customs officers said they found 219 grams 7.7 ounces of marijuana in a plastic bag in one of McCartney’s suitcases as he passed through the checkpoint at the airport in Narita, 40 miles east of Tokyo.

Video: '80's Scandals - Paul McCartney arrested for drugs' (Jan. 16, 1980, at 0:14-0:49)

No immediate formal charges were brought against him. He was turned over to drug-control officials at the airport for questioning and probably would remain in their custody overnight, the officials said.

If charged and found guilty, he could be sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of up to $2,000, officials said.

Wings had been scheduled to give concerts in Tokyo next week before going on to Osaka and Nagoya and then returning to Tokyo for a final series of concerts ending Feb 2. The tour sponsor, the newspaper Yomiuri Shim-bun, said 100,000 tickets had been sold.

Announcing the cancellation of the concerts, Kazunan Ogawa, vice director of Yomiuri’s cultural promotion department, said it was “impossible to hold the concerts since such a thing happened. We are very sorry for Japanese music fans.”