For years, Kirishima had been going under the name Hiroshi Uchida.
A DNA test has confirmed that a 70-year-old man who claimed to be one of Japan’s most wanted criminals was telling the truth. According to the BBC, Satoshi Kirishima made his confession on his hospital deathbed last month. “I want to meet my death with my real name,” he told the police. Now, a month later, officials have confirmed that the 70-year-old was indeed Kirishima, a member of a militant group behind several deadly bombings in the 1970s. He was wanted for nearly 50 years.
It is unclear how Kirishima remained at large for so many years. He is suspected of helping plant a homemade bomb that blasted away parts of a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1975, the outlet reported. There were no casualties. Back then, he belonged to the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, a radical, left-wing organisation believed to be behind several bombings against companies in Tokyo in the 70s – including one targeting a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries building which left eight dead and more than 160 injured.
The 70-year-old is also believed to have been involved in four other attacks the ground carried out. Two other members of the group were sentenced to death for their involvement in attacks. It is thought he is the only member of the group never caught by the cops.
For years, Kirishima had been going under the name Hiroshi Uchida. He had reportedly lived in the city of Fujisawa, on the western edge of Tokyo, for almost 40 years. He told the cops he had worked day labour jobs before ending up working at a construction company. He had been paid in cash and didn’t have a phone to help him stay under the radar. He also didn’t have a driving licence or any health insurance when he arrived at the hospital.
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The saga took a sudden turn when the terminally ill man hospitalised near Tokyo confessed on his deathbed that he was Kirishima. This prompted the hospital staff to alert the police and through subsequent DNA analysis, “the person who died at the hospital on January 29 was confirmed to be Satoshi Kirishima himself”, a Tokyo police spokesman said, as per Japan Times.
While interrogated by police shortly before his death, Mr Kirishima recounted details about his family and extremist group that only he could have known.
Police will now continue to investigate whether or not anyone helped Kirishima stay undetected for all this time.
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