NAGANO (TR) – Nagano Prefectural Police on Saturday arrested a 28-year-old man and his girlfriend, both of whom are suspected in nearly 200 tire-slashing incidents in Matsumoto City and nearby earlier this year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Dec. 17).
At 9:20 pm. on November 12, Hiroyuki Imamizu and Yoko Nakahata, 34, neither of whom is employed, allegedly punctured one tire of a vehicle stopped in a parking lot at a residential housing block in the Imai area of Matsumoto.
Imaizu and Nakahata, who have been accused of causing property damage, admit to the allegations. “I used an awl-like object,” Imaizu was quoted by the Matsuoto Police Station. The suspects were sent to prosecutor on Monday.
According to police, the suspects are believed to have carried out the same crime on about 180 vehicles in Matsumoto and Shiojiri cities since the end of October.
The suspects live together in Nagano City. The couple carried out the crimes while they were out on dates, police said.
The suspects surfaced as persons of interest for police based on an eyewitness report and after an examination of security camera footage.
