Tokyo Police to Create Section Specializing in Lone Offenders

Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department plans to set up a section specializing in investigating lone offenders who carry out terrorist attacks independently without belonging to any organization, according to informed sources.

Such a section will be established for the first time in Japanese police departments, the sources said.

The MPD will create the section in April next year, when it reorganizes its Public Security Bureau, with the aim of strengthening its information-gathering capabilities as part of efforts to prevent terrorism and serious crimes.

There have been incidents involving lone offenders in the country, such as the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 and an incident in April 2023 in which an explosive was thrown at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his campaign tour.

Experts say that it is difficult to detect signs of terrorism by lone offenders as they are responsible for everything from plotting attacks to carrying them out.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]