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KOBE -- Award-winning writer and playwright Ramo Nakajima has been arrested for possessing marijuana and magic mushrooms, Kinki Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare officials said Wednesday.

The bureau's narcotics agents raided Nakajima's home in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, on Tuesday and seized five cigarettes containing cannabis, four grams of dried hemp and three grams of magic mushrooms.

Nakajima was arrested on the spot and documents have been sent to prosecutors Wednesday accusing him on drug charges.

The talented 50-year-old began his career as a copywriter for an ad company. Nakajima authored dozens of books, including "Konya subete no bar de," a painful but humorous account of his days as an alcoholic that won the prestigious Yoshikawa Eiji literature award's best new comer prize, and "Gadara no buta," which won the Mystery Writers' Association Award in 1994.

He also runs the popular Lilliput Army theater troupe and writes scripts for them. (Compiled from Mainichi and wire reports, Feb. 5, 2003)"

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