New | Japan sends 4,000 cops in manhunt for escaped gang-rape suspect
Authorities also mobilise 850 cars, helicopters, sniffer dogs to chase after 20-year-old suspect who fled interrogation
A massive manhunt was underway in Japan on Wednesday against an escaped rape suspect, with 4,000 police officers, 850 vehicles, sniffer dogs, helicopters and boats scouring the port city near Tokyo, reports said.
The rare nationwide hunt was launched against Yuta Sugimoto, 20, was being questioned over claims he was part of a gang that raped and robbed a woman on the streets of Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, on January 2.
He slipped away from his guard during a visit to prosecutors in an office building on Tuesday, a day after he and another man were arrested.
He apparently loosened his waist rope after requesting a toilet break, a Kanagawa prefectural police official said on condition of anonymity due to departmental rules. The suspect tore himself away from police officers and escaped.
The case itself was not intended to be made public public, but that changed when the suspect vanished, the police official said.
The rare escape of a suspect during interrogation caught a nationwide attention was not only an embarrassment for the authorities but raised safety concerns among local residents.
