Ex-al-Qaeda Member Referred to Prosecutors for 1994 Plane Blast over Okinawa

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)--The police department of Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, on Wednesday sent papers on a former senior member of the al-Qaeda terrorist group to public prosecutors over an explosion on a flight in 1994, which killed a Japanese passenger.

Ramzi Yousef, 57, who has Iraqi citizenship, is alleged to have detonated an explosive on a Philippine Airlines passenger flight from Manila to Narita International Airport near Tokyo around 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 11, 1994, when the aircraft was flying over the Daito Islands in Okinawa.

A 24-year-old Japanese male company employee was killed, and 10 others were injured. A total of 293 passengers and crew members were on the flight.

The latest move by the Okinawa police effectively put an end to law-enforcement authorities' investigation into the case as Yousef has been imprisoned for life in the United States.

The police department recently identified Yousef as the suspect after interviewing passengers, examining the aircraft body and exchanging information with U.S. and Philippine investigative authorities.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]