NIIGATA (TR) – Police in Nagaoka City have arrested a 61-year-old unemployed man after he was found with a large kitchen knife in his vehicle, offering a bizarre excuse to investigators, reports Nippon News Network (June 23).
According to police, Hitoshi Hosogai was involved in an unspecified dispute with a man and a woman in Nagaoka around noon on Sunday. Responding officers managed to defuse the situation and persuaded Hosogai to leave the scene.
However, in the predawn hours of the following day, Hosogai returned. Officers who had remained on high alert in the area approached his vehicle and spotted a kitchen knife with a 16.5-centimeter-long blade sitting entirely exposed on the passenger seat. Hosogai was arrested on the spot.
Upon his arrest for violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law, the suspect denied the allegations and offered an absurd explanation for the weapon.
“I just left it in the car after I used it to peel an apple,” Hosogai told investigators.
Police are continuing to investigate the details of the initial altercation and Hosogai’s true motive for possessing the blade.
