OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested a 36-year-old man over the alleged abduction of two girls earlier this month, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 9).
At around 12:25 a.m. on Monday, Naoki Hanaoka, a company employee living in the town of Hongocho, Hyogo Prefecture, allegedly used his car to transport the girls, aged 12 and 14, to his residence.
Neither girl was hurt in the incident. Hanaoka admits to the allegations, the Minami Police Station said.
According to police, the girls are acquaintances. Hanaoka got to know
the 14-year-old girl via a social networking service.
“Let me stay [with you],” she wrote to him. “Anytime is fine,” he responded.
On Sunday, the parents of both girls contacted police about the disappearance of their children. After an examination of security camera footage, police were led to Hanaoka’s residence. The girls were found inside on Wednesday.
On the day the girls disappeared, they took a train to a railway station in Hyogo. Hanaoka arrived early the next morning to pick them up.
Police are now investigating whether to also accuse Hanaoka of confinement.
