Two more of the 10 youths arrested on suspicion of extorting about 54 million yen from a 15-year-old boy in Nagoya were transferred to a family court Wednesday, prosecutors said.
One is a high school student and the other is a construction worker. The youths, both 16, were one year ahead at the same junior high school as the victim and have been in custody on suspicion of extortion.
With Wednesday's transfer, all but two of the youths implicated in the case have been sent to family court.
The 15-year-old victim, who now attends a vocational school, was forced to hand over money on about 80 occasions during an eight-month period that started last June, during which he was often beaten, investigative sources said.
Prosecutors believe the two youths sent to family court on Wednesday accompanied the boy to his home in a taxi to pick up 1.2 million yen in cash. The night before the alleged pickup, the victim had been forced to spend the night at the home of another 16-year-old boy who is believed to have played a key role in the extortion, the sources said.
The 54 million yen came from insurance money the family received after the victim's father died in a traffic accident three years earlier, as well as his mother's savings, they said.
The 10 minors are believed to have used some of the money to buy sexual services and pay restaurant bills.
The suspects' names are being withheld because they are minors.