- 14 Mar 2002
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Just a media hype?
Reported by Daily Yomiuri, 05-12-00:
Youth held in Shinjuku nail bomb attack
A 17-year-old youth was arrested Monday in connection with a nail bomb attack on a video shop in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, police said.
The high school student from Tochigi Prefecture turned up at a police box about 400 meters from the video shop carrying a shotgun and 39 shells about 15 minutes after the 8:15 p.m. explosion and admitted throwing a nail bomb into the shop, police said.
The explosion burned the ceiling and walls of the shop and videos in the shop, but no one was injured, police said.
The youth was arrested at the police box on suspicion of violating the Firearms and Swords Possession Control Law.
As well as the shotgun and shells, which he said belonged to his grandfather, the youth was also carrying what looked like a handmade, softball-sized nail bomb, they said. Police quoted him as saying that he had thrown another nail bomb he had into the shop.
Police on Tuesday quoted the youth as saying, "I wanted to destroy people."
He told investigators of the Metropolitan Police Department and Shinjuku Police Station that "it could have been anybody."
Police said the bomb that exploded in the video shop and the one he was carrying when he went to the police box were stuffed with nails and had been designed to be lethal.
The youth's high school classmates said he had a strong interest in explosive substances and was a quiet and able student.
According to police, the youth said, "I lit the bomb and rolled it into the shop." He added, "I did not care where it exploded," they said.
He left his home in Tochigi Prefecture on Sunday, saying that he was going to a bookstore. He traveled to Shinjuku via Shibuya, leading police to believe that he intended to detonate the bomb in a busy entertainment district.
The bomb, which the youth said he had made at home, was constructed from a metal mug from which the handle had been removed. The mug was filled with explosive black powder of the type used in fireworks and a large number of 1.5-centimeter-long nails and was wrapped with plastic tape.
Police said the nail bomb was a crude device designed to be detonated with a string fuse.
Police are treating the case as a suspected violation of the Explosives Control Law.
According to students at the prefectural high school that the youth attends, he is a quiet student who does not have many friends. They said he has always received top marks and usually finishes first or second in examinations.
Copyright © Yomiuri Shimbun
Reported by Daily Yomiuri, 05-12-00:
Youth held in Shinjuku nail bomb attack
A 17-year-old youth was arrested Monday in connection with a nail bomb attack on a video shop in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, police said.
The high school student from Tochigi Prefecture turned up at a police box about 400 meters from the video shop carrying a shotgun and 39 shells about 15 minutes after the 8:15 p.m. explosion and admitted throwing a nail bomb into the shop, police said.
The explosion burned the ceiling and walls of the shop and videos in the shop, but no one was injured, police said.
The youth was arrested at the police box on suspicion of violating the Firearms and Swords Possession Control Law.
As well as the shotgun and shells, which he said belonged to his grandfather, the youth was also carrying what looked like a handmade, softball-sized nail bomb, they said. Police quoted him as saying that he had thrown another nail bomb he had into the shop.
Police on Tuesday quoted the youth as saying, "I wanted to destroy people."
He told investigators of the Metropolitan Police Department and Shinjuku Police Station that "it could have been anybody."
Police said the bomb that exploded in the video shop and the one he was carrying when he went to the police box were stuffed with nails and had been designed to be lethal.
The youth's high school classmates said he had a strong interest in explosive substances and was a quiet and able student.
According to police, the youth said, "I lit the bomb and rolled it into the shop." He added, "I did not care where it exploded," they said.
He left his home in Tochigi Prefecture on Sunday, saying that he was going to a bookstore. He traveled to Shinjuku via Shibuya, leading police to believe that he intended to detonate the bomb in a busy entertainment district.
The bomb, which the youth said he had made at home, was constructed from a metal mug from which the handle had been removed. The mug was filled with explosive black powder of the type used in fireworks and a large number of 1.5-centimeter-long nails and was wrapped with plastic tape.
Police said the nail bomb was a crude device designed to be detonated with a string fuse.
Police are treating the case as a suspected violation of the Explosives Control Law.
According to students at the prefectural high school that the youth attends, he is a quiet student who does not have many friends. They said he has always received top marks and usually finishes first or second in examinations.
Copyright © Yomiuri Shimbun