OKINAWA -- Police served fresh arrest warrants on Friday, accusing two teenage sons of U.S. servicemen stationed here of robbing a taxi driver, investigators said.The two boys -- the 15-year-old son of a U.S. Marine and the 16-year-old son of a U.S. airman -- are accused of robbery and inflicting bodily injury for allegedly robbing a taxi and injuring its driver in Okinawa. The teenage suspects, already under arrest in a separate theft case, have admitted to having been involved in the violent robbery.
Moreover, prefectural police suspect a 21-year-old airman and two 19-year-old sons of servicemen were also involved in the incident.
The two boys were arrested earlier this month for theft after allegedly stealing a box containing about 5,400 yen in cash from a taxi as they were getting out of the vehicle in Okinawa on the night of March 16.
In the new robbery case, they stopped a taxi in Okinawa in the early hours of March 16, hit its 55-year-old driver and made off with a box containing about 8,000 yen in cash, according to prefectural police. The taxi driver sustained light injuries.
The prefectural police asked the U.S. military to cooperate in the investigation of the case, which occurred about 22 hours before the two boys committed the theft for which they were initially arrested.
Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, a U.S. serviceman or civil employee suspected of a crime will be detained by the U.S. military until indictment by the Japanese authorities.
After the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa Prefecture, the U.S. government agreed to hand over suspects in serious offenses before indictment. In 2004, the agreement was extended to cover all offenses, but the extradition of suspects is at the discretion of the U.S. military.
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(Mainichi Japan) April 4, 2008
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