16-Year-Old Boy Arrested over Train Odor Incident near Tokyo

Yokohama, May 12 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police arrested a 16-year-old boy Tuesday for allegedly impeding train operations by spraying a liquid that caused a strange odor on a train running in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

The suspect, who claims to be a civil engineering worker living in Tokyo’s Ota Ward, has admitted to the allegation. He was quoted as telling investigators, “I disrupted train services by spraying the substance.”

The Kanagawa prefectural police department believes that the suspect sprayed the liquid, of unknown composition, on the train while it was running between Yokohama and Kawasaki stations on the Tokaido line at around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, causing some passengers to suffer sore throats.

He is alleged to have delayed the train service by about two hours and 15 minutes, obstructing the operations of East Japan Railway Co., or JR East.

Three people, including a passenger in her 30s, were taken to a hospital, but all suffered only minor symptoms, with the incident affecting some 1,200 passengers.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]