OSAKA -- A former senior official of Mikasa Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and one of his acquaintances were arrested Friday on suspicion of making 4.2 million yen through insider trading.

Those arrested were named as Hisaaki Joichi, 54, a former director of Mikasa Coca-Cola's general affairs and personnel department, and Toshihiro Tsukamoto, 49.

Mikasa Coca-Cola, based in Tenri, Nara Prefecture, is a regional bottler chiefly serving Shiga, Nara and Wakayama prefectures.

Prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission searched the houses of the two suspects in Nara Prefecture.

The Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office suspects Joichi and Tsukamoto illegally profited from trading shares using information they obtained beforehand about Coca-Cola West Japan Co.'s takeover bid for the firm.

According to the prosecutors, Mikasa Coca-Cola became a subsidiary of Coca-Cola West Japan, based in Fukuoka, when it acquired shares in Mikasa Coca-Cola that had been held by Seibu Department Stores Ltd. and carried out the takeover bid in 2001.

With information not available to the public, Joichi is suspected of purchasing about 22,000 shares in Mikasa Coca-Cola for 17 million yen and later selling them for a profit during February 2001.

While Joichi denied the allegations, Tsukamoto has admitted to them, the prosecutors said.

The Securities and Exchange Law prohibits people from trading shares with in-house information. Offenders face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 3 million yen.

The firm was delisted from the Osaka Securities Exchange on Jan. 25, 2002.