Man Arrested for Escape after 48 Days on Run in Japan

September 30, 2018

Osaka- A man was served with an additional arrest warrant for alleged escape from police custody on Sunday, a day after he was detained in western Japan following 48 days on the run.

The 30-year-old man, Junya Hida, was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting in Yamaguchi Prefecture on Saturday after escaping from a police station in Tondabayashi in Osaka Prefecture, about 360 kilometers away, in August.

Hida was transferred to the Osaka prefectural police department Sunday morning for questioning. He has remained silent, sources familiar with the police investigation said.

At a press conference in the city of Osaka, Koichi Hirota, head of the Osaka prefectural police, apologized for Hida's escape.

"We sincerely apologize for any worries and anxieties caused by the case. We'll take steps to prevent a similar case from occurring again while making efforts to recover trust," Hirota said.

Hida, earlier indicted for rape and other crimes, escaped from a visiting room of a detention facility in the Tondabayashi police station after a meeting with his lawyer on the night of Aug. 12.

He broke an acrylic plate that divided the detainee and the visitor and fled, and the police did not become aware of his escape until about two hours later.

On Saturday, Hida was arrested on suspicion of stealing food at a roadside rest area in the Yamaguchi city of Shunan.

He was using a bicycle loaded with a large amount of luggage. It was found to have been stolen in Habikino, an Osaka city that neighbors Tondabayashi, when he fled the police station.

Hida allegedly snatched handbags repeatedly while on the run, but he was carrying as small as 280 yen in cash with him when he was arrested at the rest area.

He got acquainted with a 44-year-old man, who was traveling across the country by bicycle, in the western prefecture of Ehime about three weeks ago, and they had since been together, the police sources said.

The police do not believe that the man was sheltering Hida because the man was not aware that he was the suspect, the sources said. Jiji Press