A man called Tokyo station on Sunday afternoon, threatening to detonate an explosive device that he claimed to have planted on a shinkansen (bullet train) by Monday afternoon.
According to police, the call came in at around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Fuji TV reported. The caller said he had placed a bomb on a shinkansen and that it would go off by Monday afternoon. JR Tokai said no train services were delayed or canceled.
Police and station personnel searched all bullet trains as well as platforms but nothing suspicious was found as of noon Monday.
Police said the caller is facing a charge of forcible obstruction of business, if he is caught.
© Japan Today
21 Comments
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nakanoguy01
here come the nutbars!
Moonraker
Yeah, cos obstructing business is more important than endangering public safety, right?
CH3CHO
MoonrakerJul. 13, 2015 - 04:12PM JST
If he actually set bombs to the train, he is liable for attempted endangering of railroad traffic.
If it was just a hoax, he is liable for obstruction of business.
Vernie Jefferies
I hope he was dumb enough to use his personal cellphone.
nath
Vernie, have you checked to see if your phone is home? Maybe he took and used yours. :-(
Horrible, but can happen.
Glad no bomb.
some14some
Not dumb enough if he is looking for free meals on taxpayers account :)
nath
Love the wording here. "Forceable obstruction of business". More like terrorist threat. That is a very serious life-endangering threat. Wow!
u_s__reamer
It's now a question of when and not if. If not a terrorist, then a mentally disturbed individual with a grudge against society. Unfortunately, this is a symptom of the times we live in when technologies of destruction are becoming available to numerous assorted sociopaths.
toshiko
Any phone calls are traceable. If call is from pay phpne,, finger prints all over on phone booth area.
ifd66
then, for the prints to be any use, the prints would have to be on file - but wait a minute, isn't it only foreigners who get routinely fingerprinted over here?
misunderstood
Another idiot with nothing else to dream about!
sassarma
Let us hope Japan does not become a place for terrorism
Vernie Jefferies
JapanGal very clever, but I stopped using my cellphone 3 years ago here in Japan. He wouldn't get much service out of that old phone. hehe
toshiko
fingerprint Usually ex cons have theirs on database
Elizabeth Heath
Making bomb threats is terrorism, never mind obstructing business. Throw the book at him.
Aly Rustom
If this continues, we won't be able to get on a local train without being fingerprinted, photographed, and given a cavity search.
Jeff Ogrisseg
This is how the problem-reaction-solution cycle works. How exactly was the caller on Sunday supposed to detonate the bomb on Monday? Then, cui bono? If you're gonna go to all the trouble of building and deploying (read, hiding) an actual remote detonation device, how brilliant is it to give the cops 20 hours to find it?
But 90% of you are only going to remember, "The shinkansen is not safe anymore. We need airport security theater! Wahhh!"
Magnus Roe
By mobile phone, like every other terrorist in the last 20 years?
toshiko
@Aly: haven't you noticed sec cameras on trains? Finger print data base is only ex con's and connected to FBI files etc. That is old old and not for none criminals. Only people who have to worry are ex cons. Please look inside of train before t on train ride.
Jeff Ogrisseg
In Japan? Really? Does the phone have a cute Hello Kitty case? Cui bono?