Japanese police yesterday arrested a person in connection with the murder of two Taiwanese women in Tokyo on Thursday. The police have not identified the person detained.
Japanese media earlier in the day reported that police were focusing their investigations on a missing male student from Taiwan, but it was unclear whether he has been found and detained.
According to the Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS), Tokyo’s National Police Agency launched a search in the Kansai area after collecting fingerprints from the missing student’s room, which was in a separate building 10 minutes from where the victims lived.
Police believe the missing male student has direct knowledge of the case, the MBS report added.
At a press conference on Friday morning, the Japanese police said one of the victims, Lin Chih-ying (林芷瀅), had been planning to go on a trip to Hokkaido with two male Taiwanese students aged 18 and 25.
The 25-year-old male student phoned Lin on Thursday at about 8am, police officers said. Lin answered the call, meaning she was still alive at that time, they said. However, when the two male students phoned Lin and the other victim, Julia Chu (朱立婕), at 9:20am, both failed to answer, police added.
Lin and Chu were found covered in blood on Thursday morning in their dorm building in the Taito ward. One woman was found dead at the scene, while the other died shortly afterward from her injuries.
Both women were in their 20s and studying at the Intercultural Institute of Japan language school.
Family members of the victims have asked Taiwan’s media not to speculate about the case as it may affect the investigation.
They also told reporters they had been asked by Japanese police to keep a low profile and not to reveal too much information. In addition, they thanked the Japanese authorities and officials from the Taiwan Economic and Culture Office in Japan for their assistance.
The families of the victims have agreed to have the bodies cremated in Japan and are reportedly making funeral preparations.
In the wake of rumors and media reports that a Taiwanese man might have killed the two women, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said that Taiwanese who commit crimes in Japan have to face trial and serve their sentences in Japan because there is no extradition agreement between the two countries.
There are about 110 Taiwanese people serving jail time in Japan, ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said, adding that most of them have been imprisoned for drug trafficking offenses.
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