Tokyo police have rearrested a man for allegedly sending a box cutter blade to a former Cabinet minister, expanding their investigation after initially arresting him for threatening another former lawmaker.
Yasuhiro Oura, 52, was arrested Monday on suspicion of mailing the blade and threatening messages in the winter of 2022 to former reconstruction minister Kenya Akiba, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigative Division. Oura, who is unemployed, has admitted to the charges.
Akiba, 62, served as reconstruction minister under former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before being effectively dismissed in December 2022 over a political funding scandal.
According to investigators, Oura told police he was angered by Akiba’s resignation.
The suspect allegedly sent a letter in late December 2022 that read, “Congratulations on resigning as minister. I know your secret. Don’t think this is over.”
The following month, he mailed another envelope containing a single box cutter blade to Akiba’s office, police said.
Investigators linked Oura to the threats against the former minister after analyzing his seized smartphone. Akiba had filed a criminal complaint in January this year, according to police.
Oura had been arrested previously and was indicted in February for attempted extortion after he allegedly sent a threatening letter demanding money to the campaign office of former Upper House lawmaker Renho.
At the time, Oura claimed he held a grudge against the lawmaker for orchestrating a budget screening of government programs under the former Democratic Party of Japan administration that led to his unwanted job reassignment.
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