EXCLUSIVE: Man Suspected of Entering U.S. Yokosuka Base with Fake ID

Yokohama, Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese police will question a man in his 40s on suspicion of using a forged ID card to trespass into the U.S. Navy’s Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, Jiji Press learned Thursday. The Kanagawa prefectural police department plans to arrest the man, an employee of a major general trading company, upon confirming his suspected violation of the Special Criminal Act under the Japan-U.S. status-of-forces agreement. The man has already cooperated with voluntarily questioning by the prefectural police after returning to Japan from his assignment in Iraq on Thursday. According to investigative sources, the man is suspected of illegally entering the Yokosuka base around last autumn with a fake ID card, even though outsiders are normally prohibited from entering the facility. He may have committed similar acts at other U.S. military-related facilities multiple times. The prefectural police will investigate how the man obtained the forged cards and for what they were used. At the Yokosuka base, the man reportedly rented a car for about two weeks and drove it in and out of the facility. When he later parked the vehicle on a street near his home in Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department cited him for a parking violation, bringing the suspicion of illegal entry to light. According to the prefectural police, outsiders are required to have an ID card issued by the U.S. military or be accompanied by U.S. military personnel to enter U.S. military-related facilities. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]