Japan Police Seek Cooperation from Biz over Lone Offenders

Tokyo, June 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s National Police Agency instructed the country’s 47 prefectural police departments Thursday to set up cooperative frameworks with rental storage and parcel delivery businesses to fight lone offender terrorism. The NPA hopes to collect information from the industries to detect signs of individuals making firearms or explosives alone, including unusual smells and noises, in order to prevent terrorist attacks by lone offenders, who commit such crimes without belonging to any specific organization. Rental storage facilities, including self-storage units and rental containers, can be used as a place to store gunpowder or as a workshop to make dangerous goods. The agency asked rental storage service providers to inform police if they detect suspicious people, goods or noise through patrols by facility managers or reports from customers. To the parcel delivery industry, the agency made a request that delivery companies report to police if they find anything suspicious about parcels and delivery addresses. The agency had made similar requests to industry groups of real estate companies, drugstores and home stores. There have been cases in which firearms and explosives related to organized crime groups were kept in rental storage units. In other cases, unattended delivery services, in which parcels are left at doorsteps or nearby, were abused to allow vacant houses to serve as drop-off and collection points for fraud proceeds and illegal drugs. The agency expects that information to be collected from companies could also be connected to crimes other than terrorism. It will ensure that such information is shared promptly among its relevant divisions and used in investigations. Such information will be received at police stations and through a hotline. “The eyes of citizens are important to prevent crimes,” an agency official said. “Please do not hesitate to send us any information.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]