Possible Handlers Arrested in Tochigi Robbery-Murder Case

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref., May 17 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police on Sunday arrested a 28-year-old man and his 25-year-old wife in connection with a robbery-murder incident targeting an elderly woman in Tochigi Prefecture, eastern Japan, believing that they were handlers who gave instructions to the perpetrators.

The development came after four 16-year-old boys, all high school students, 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.

Investigators have not disclosed whether the suspects have admitted to the crime.

The possible handlers, who are from Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, were arrested on suspicion of robbery-murder. The man, Kaito Takemae, was arrested while attempting to leave the country from Tokyo's Haneda Airport, and his wife, Miyu, was taken into custody at a hotel in Kanagawa where she was staying with her seven-month-old daughter. The couple are both unemployed.

Investigators believe that there may be other handlers and that the four boys were recruited by a "tokuryu" anonymous and fluid criminal group to participate in the attack.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]