The Yomiuri Shimbun
YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa--A U.S. sailor suspected of stabbing a taxi driver to death in Yokosuka last month entered the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base at which he was stationed to withdraw cash from an ATM immediately after the alleged murder, according to a special investigation squad at Yokosuka Police Station.
Since the U.S. military had been searching for Olatunbosun Ugbogu on the ground of desertion, the fact that the Nigerian national was not spotted reentering and leaving the base is likely to call into question the base's security system.
Ugbogu, 22, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murdering taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi, 61, in his vehicle after leaving the base without permission on March 8.
It has now been confirmed that the seaman first class returned to the base--about 500 meters from the murder scene--to withdraw cash from an ATM in the base's welfare facility, a police source said.
Ugbogu is then believed to have left the base and returned to Tokyo.
The base has two gates, both of which are manned by military police who check the identities of people entering.
However, the U.S. Naval Forces Japan commander, Rear Adm. James Kelly, did not make clear how strict the checks were, saying that military police did not always demand people show their identity cards.
Kelly also told reporters at a press conference Saturday that Ugbogu had previously been brought back to the base after causing trouble there and going AWOL.
(Apr. 7, 2008)
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