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Tokyo cops wrongly arrest woman in sex shop raid

The Soka Police Station
The Soka Police Station (takamoto-cnst.co.jp)

SAITAMA (TR) – Police wrongly arrested a woman as part of a raid on a commercial sex shop in Soka City because a worker there had stolen her identity, the Sankei Shimbun reported on Friday (August 12).

A woman in her 30s of Edogawa Ward was arrested for violating the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses by illegally running a sex shop in a prohibited retail zone from June 21 to 22, but was released after about three hours, police said on Thursday.

A joint investigation team of Soka Station Police and Tokyo police raided the sex shop overnight on Wednesday and arrested eight individuals, including members of management and the woman.

The woman denied the charges, saying she “never worked at a sex shop before,” but was arrested because her resident registration details matched the personal information thought to belong to one of the sex shop workers, including her name and birth date.

An investigator who knew the sex shop worker realized they were different people. Police concluded the worker was assuming the woman’s identity after somehow obtaining her details.

An investigation official said they were “deeply sorry to the woman and parties involved.”

“We’ll strengthen guidance to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” the official said.