KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a male British national who is suspected of dumping trash into mailboxes in Kamakura City, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Mar. 22).
At around 2:20 p.m. on Monday, Anthony Tanaka, of no known occupation, allegedly stuffed an empty bento (boxed meal) container, chopsticks and a plastic bottle into a street mailbox in front of the city’s government office.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of violating the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act, Tanaka, 37, denied the allegations. “I thought it was a garbage can,” the suspect told the Kamakura Police Station.
The matter emerged last December 24 when the Kamakura Post Office telephoned police to report “mail stained by garbage.”
Through March 17, police confirmed that a total of 150 pieces of mail had been soiled in seven incidents.
Of those incidents, three took place at the mailbox in front of the city office. On Monday, an officer on patrol apprehended Tanaka after seeing him insert the bento box into the slot.
Police are now investigating whether Tanaka was also behind the first seven incidents.
