Cabbie's Killing Leads Navy To Limit Alcohol Sales, Use On Japan Base

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
April 3, 2008 By Associated Press and Yomiuri Shimbun
TOKYO – The U.S. Navy imposed limits yesterday on travel and alcohol consumption by personnel at its base near Tokyo following the killing of a Japanese taxi driver.
The limits start immediately and will last at least through Monday when the measures will be reviewed, said Cmdr. David Waterman, a Navy spokesman.
No alcohol will be sold on the base, and public drinking by personnel will be banned due to “a period of heightened sensitivity” over the stabbing of taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi, 61, last month in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo and home to the U.S. naval base, Waterman said.
The announcement came hours after Japanese police questioned a U.S. sailor over his suspected role in Takahashi's death.
Waterman denied the measures came in response to the sailor's reported admission to the killing to Japanese police.
The sailor, a crew member of the Yokosuka-based guided-missile cruiser Cowpens, has been in U.S. custody since Navy authorities apprehended him on a desertion charge last month in Tokyo.
U.S. Navy investigators also questioned him about the killing because a credit card with his name was allegedly found in the taxi.
Waterman refused to confirm Japanese media reports that the sailor acknowledged fatally stabbing the driver.
The sailor's name, age, nationality and other details have not been released for privacy reasons. Japanese media reports have said he is a 22-year-old Nigerian citizen serving in the U.S. Navy.
Japanese police sought an arrest warrant today for the sailor, a Japanese official said. Japanese authorities could get custody of the seaman from U.S. naval authorities as early as this afternoon.
The sailor reportedly left the U.S. Naval Base in Yokosuka without permission on March 8. He surrendered to the NCIS on March 22, three days after the taxi driver was found murdered. The case comes amid mounting public anger over the U.S. military presence in Japan because of crimes allegedly committed by U.S. servicemen.
According to the police, the knife used in the taxi driver's murder was similar to a kitchen knife missing from the residence of a female acquaintance of the suspect. The sailor reportedly went to the woman's house in Tokyo after he left the base on March 8.
About 50,000 U.S. servicemen are stationed in Japan.
Waterman said the Navy will fully cooperate with Japanese authorities.
 
Back
Top