INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tatsuma Hirao, 27, who was serving time for multiple thefts was arrested on Monday
(AFP)Tokyo, Japan: A thief who fled an open jail in Japan sparking a high-profile manhunt involving some 15,000
officers was taken into custody on Monday, police said, more than three weeks after his escape.Tatsuma Hirao, 27, a "model" inmate who was
serving time for multiple thefts, was arrested on a street near Hiroshima railway station in western Japan, a local police spokesman told
AFP.He was captured some 70 kilometres (40 miles) west of Mukaishima island, where police had deployed helicopters, drones, police dogs and
infrared detectors to find him.Hundreds of officers a day were sent to the island for the manhunt with the total number reportedly reaching
around 15,000 since early April, local media said.Hirao told investigators that he escaped from the island by swimming across the sea,
according to public broadcaster NHK.Television footage showed Hirao, who was unshaven and wearing a black shirt, taken by several police
officers to a police vehicle.The case has made headline news in Japan with TV channels picking over the manhunt in minute detail.Hirao gave
guards the slip on April 8, vanishing from the facility, an "open institution" where inmates can walk around freely.Police detected the
fugitive's fingerprints and several thefts have been reported since his escape.The stolen items include socks, a mobile phone, a wallet, a
pair of sandals and a car key, whose owner found a polite note -- apparently from the fugitive -- saying: "I'm borrowing your car but I'll
never damage it."Justice Minister Yoko Kawakami made a rare apology for the difficulties in recapturing the criminal."I deeply apologise to
local residents and many people for troubling and worrying them for such a long time," Kawakami said in a statement, adding that her
ministry will take preventive measures.A total of 20 inmates have escaped since the prison opened in 1961.Japan enjoys one of the lowest
crime rates in the developed world but has a relatively high reoffending rate.(This story has not been edited by staff and is
auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
