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Hyogo cops: Drunk government official breaks into prison

The Kakogawa Prison
The Kakogawa Prison

HYOGO – Hyogo Prefectural Police have arrested a government official for allegedly trespassing onto the grounds of a prison in Kakogawa City after a night of drinking, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (July 16).

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on July 16, Ryuji Ikeda, a 24-year-old official with the government office of Kobe, climbed over a two-meter outer wall of Kakogawa Prison. A guard on patrol near the main gate then saw the suspect and apprehended him.

Ikeda, who had been drinking with acquaintances in the Sannomiya area of Kobe just prior to the incident, admits to the allegations. “I didn’t know that it was a prison,” the suspect is quoted by officers from the Kakogawa Police Station.

The prison is located about 30 kilometers away from the suspect’s residence in Kobe’s Hyogo Ward. Police are now investigating whether the suspect exited a train at a wrong station prior to arriving at the prison.