Teenage Suspects in Tochigi Robbery-Murder Were under Threat

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref., May 20 (Jiji Press)--Teenage suspects in last week's high-profile robbery-murder case in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, have told police investigators that they had been threatened with the killing of their families and friends if they did not take part in the crime, it was learned Wednesday.

Some of the four arrested 16-year-olds claimed to have been threatened by Kaito Takemae, 28, and his 25-year-old wife, Miyu, who were also arrested in connection with the case, according to investigative sources.

The teenage suspects received real-time instructions from the couple during the robbery, the sources also said.

In Japan, there have been a string of cases in which young people applying for so-called dark part-time jobs have been forced to join loosely organized "tokuryu" anonymous crime groups. Police believe that the teenage suspects in the Tochigi case followed a similar route.

The couple, from Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, and the four teenagers, who are high school students in Kanagawa, are suspected of colluding to break into a house in the Tochigi town of Kaminokawa on Thursday morning and murder Eiko Tomiyama, 69. Two sons of Tomiyama were also attacked.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]