Japanese student accused of making lethal explosive

April 8, 2019

Tokyo--Tokyo police on Monday accused a 16-year-old high school student of producing and possessing erythritol tetranitrate, a lethal explosive also known as ETN, without permission.

Papers on his alleged violation of the explosives control law were sent to public prosecutors from the Metropolitan Police Department.

The Tokyo student has admitted the charge, sources familiar with the investigation said. He has told investigators that he likes chemistry and that he wanted to know how to produce the explosive as knowledge, according to the sources.

According to the police, the student became acquainted with a 19-year-old former college student in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, who has been sentenced to three to five years in prison for producing triacetone triperoxide, another explosive known as TATP, through Twitter and Line.

The two exchanged information about how to produce ETN, the sources said.

The high school student is suspected of producing 2.4 grams of substances that included ETN in his house without gaining permission from the industry minister around Aug. 19-20, and possessing them in the form of powder on Oct. 2.

On Monday, the Tokyo and Aichi police raided the homes of some people that had contact with the former college student.

An expert analysis of the powder collected from the high school student's house showed that the substance was ETN. There were no signs that the substance had been detonated.

ETN is a high-power explosive that has structure similar to military explosives used for making plastic bombs. ETN is more powerful than TATP, which has been used for terrorist attacks. Poor production of ETN can lead to accidental explosions during the manufacturing process.

The prefectural police of Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, last month sent prosecutors papers on an 18-year-old boy, an acquaintance of the former college student, for allegedly possessing gunpowder. Jiji Press