CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested three men for allegedly dumping a corpse found dismembered at a port in Choshi City last year, reports NHK (Sept. 30).
Police have accused Yasuhide Masaki, a 37-year-old employee in the construction industry living in Choshi, Koichiro Yaginuma, a 30 year-old company employee living in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, and Ren Soejima, a 24-year-old security guard living in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward, of using a knife to carve up the body of Takuya Ono, a resident of Ushiku City, Ibaraki Prefecture and dumping his corpse.
The three suspects were acquaintances of the victim, police said. Soejima admits to the allegations. However, the other two suspects deny the charges.
Irezumi tattoo
According to a previous report, the body of Ono was found floating at Choshi Port on September 22. The body, which consisted of an unclothed torso, was found floating between a boat and a wharf. The torso included an irezumi tattoo, which is often sported by underworld figures.
The head, both arms and legs appeared to have been severed with a knife. None of the other body parts were found.
Police are now investigating whether to apply murder charges to the suspects.
