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US sailor arrested in fatal stabbing

Seated from left, Commander of the 7th Fleet Vice Admiral William Crowder, Commander of US Navy in Japan Rear Admiral James Kelly and Deputy Commander of US Forces in Japan James Flock meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komua in Tokyo yesterday after Japanese police arrested a US sailor in the death of a Japanese taxi driver. PHOTO: AP

Japanese police arrested a US sailor yesterday in the stabbing death of a taxi driver near an American naval base outside Tokyo last month, officials said.

A 22-year-old crew member of the Yokosuka-based ship USS Cowpens was arrested on a murder charge after Japan and the US agreed on his handover under a bilateral security pact, a local police official said on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The seaman is suspected in the stabbing death of 61-year-old taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi on March 19 in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo and the site of a US naval base.

The suspect, whose name has not been released by the military, had been in US custody since Navy authorities apprehended him on a desertion charge last month.

Kyodo News agency and public broadcaster NHK said police identified him as a Nigerian national serving in the US Navy.

Police in Kanagawa, near Tokyo, identified the arrested sailor as Olatunbosun Ugbogu.

He was handed over to Japanese authorities just before the arrest, Japanese Foreign Ministry official Takashi Ariyoshi said.

US Navy and Japanese authorities have questioned the sailor about the killing because a credit card in his name was allegedly found in the victim’s car.

US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer offered condolences to the victim’s family and friends.

“I want to express to you the heartfelt regret that all of us feel. This was a tragic incident,” Schieffer told Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura yesterday.

“It puts a stain on all of us who try to serve America here in Japan,” he said.

Nearly 50,000 US troops are stationed at bases around Japan under the US-Japan security alliance, a pillar of Tokyo’s diplomacy, but friction with the local communities often occurs because of concern about crime, accidents and noise.

The US Navy in Japan announced on Wednesday that it would ban public drinking and the sale of alcohol at naval bases and restrict its personnel to bases from 10pm to 6am except for essential travel as part of a period of mourning for the murdered taxi driver.

The limits started immediately and were to last at least through Monday when they will be reviewed, said Commander David Waterman, a Navy spokesman.

Under an agreement governing the status of the US military in Japan, members of the military suspected of crimes need not be handed over to Japanese authorities until they are charged.

But Washington has promised to favorably consider handing over suspects of crimes such as rape before indictment.

Japanese opposition parties and politicians on Okinawa have demanded that the status of forces agreement covering US bases in Japan be revised to give Japanese authorities greater legal jurisdiction, a demand so far rejected by both Tokyo and Washington.

Schieffer said yesterday that the agreement was working well and said the latest case showed that.

The friction over bases coincides with a delay in approval by Japan’s parliament of a pact on Tokyo’s funding for US bases. The agreement expired on March 31 and parliament’s opposition-controlled upper house is expected to vote against its renewal because of concern some of the money has been misused.
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