TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 38-year-old producer of idol groups for allegedly abducting a 14-year-old girl he met online, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Apr. 23).
On April 1, Takahiro Akashi allegedly took the girl, a middle school student, from a railway station in Tokyo to a residence in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture by car. Two days later, the girl was released at a convenience store parking lot in the capital.
Akashi, who has been accused of abducting a minor, admits to the allegations. “I wanted to support my idol activities,” the suspect was quoted by police.
According to police, the suspect met the girl via a social-networking service. After she expressed a desire to run away from home because she found it “undesirable,” he told her that he was a producer for idol groups. He then suggested that they meet, adding that she should bring her school uniform.
On April 2, the parents of the girl lodged a missing persons report with police. Akashi surfaced as a person of interest after an examination of surveillance camera footage.
Officers apprehended Akashi in the Akihabara area of Tokyo while in the presence of another girl, aged 19, on April 21.
