Suspect Escapes from Police Station in Western Japan

August 13, 2018

Osaka- A 30-year-old man suspected of theft, forcible intercourse and other charges escaped from a detention house of a police station in Tondabayashi in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, on Sunday.

Junya Hida, unemployed, had been locked up at the Tondabayashi police station since June 15 after being arrested four times by the police. He is also suspected to have been involved in an arson case in which a police vehicle and other objects of another police station were set on fire.

Hida is believed to have escaped from a visiting room of the detention facility on the police station's second floor by breaking an acrylic plate that divided the detainee and the visitor, informed sources said.

The Osaka prefectural police released a mug shot of Hida to put him on a nationwide wanted list, while 3,000 officers have been deployed in the search for his whereabouts on suspicion of aggravated escape.

According to the Tondabayashi police station, Hida met with his attorney in the visiting room from around 7:30 p.m. Sunday (10:30 a.m. GMT). The police found that Hida had disappeared when an officer checked the room at around 9:45 p.m.

As the acrylic plate in the room was largely detached from its frame, Hida is likely to have sneaked out through the space between the frame and the dislocated plate, the sources said.

Hida, who was not wearing handcuffs, met the lawyer alone.

A police officer was supposed to unlock Hida's side of the room to lead him back to the detention house after the meeting was over, but the attorney left the room at around 8 p.m. without informing the police station that the session had ended.

The police suspect that Hida fled out of the unlocked door used by the lawyer after the meeting, the sources said.

He is believed to have stolen a pair of white sneakers of an officer that was left in a next-door room to use them in the escape, according to the sources. The sandals he was wearing have been found in the police station's parking lot.

A police officer who was standing in front of the door on Hida's side did not notice any unusual activities as the room was soundproof. No officer was stationed in front of the door on the lawyer's side as the meeting was held at night.

According to the police, Hida, who is 163 centimeters tall, was wearing a black tracksuit jacket and gray sweat pants. With long black hair, he has an operation scar on his left arm and a tattoo of an animal on his left calf. Jiji Press