Possible Handler Arrested in Tochigi Robbery-Murder Case

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref., May 17 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police on Sunday arrested a man in his 20s in connection with a robbery-murder incident targeting an elderly woman in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, believing that he was the handler who gave instructions to the perpetrators.

The move came after four 16-year-old boys were arrested as suspected perpetrators. The Tochigi prefectural police department arrested the first boy on Thursday, the day of the crime, the second on Friday and the third and fourth on Saturday.

The possible handler was arrested on suspicion of robbery-murder after he was found at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Investigators believe the four boys were recruited by a "tokuryu" anonymous and fluid criminal group and participated in the attack.

The four, all from Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, are suspected of murdering 69-year-old Eiko Tomiyama by stabbing her after breaking into and ransacking her house in the Tochigi town of Kaminokawa at around 9:25 a.m. on Thursday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]