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Japanese man held for strewing radioactive chemicals

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December 21, 2000 

TOKYO--(UNB/AP) - Police arrested a 40-year-old laboratory researcher Wednesday who told officials he had sprinkled radioactive liquid at a busy train station in western Japan. There were no reports of injuries.

Investigators in Takatsuki, Osaka prefecture (state) found at the site three open, thimble-sized vials, including one containing traces of iodine 125, Takatsuki police official Masanori Tsumura said.

Iodine 125 is a radioactive substance used to diagnose thyroid abnormalities

Station employees called police after the man told them he had spread the liquid at the site. Police arrested him on suspicion of forcibly obstructing business at the station, Tsumura said.

Researchers from Japan Tobacco Inc.'s Central Pharmaceutical Research Institute, where the man works, and a team from the Science and Technology Agency tested the area but found no traces of radiation.

The site was declared safe late Wednesday.

Police said the man was excited and spoke unintelligibly during questioning.

Incidents involving mishandling of chemicals continue to unnerve Japanese since a religious cult released deadly sarin nerve gas in Tokyo's subway in March 1995, killing 12 people and sickening thousands more.

Takatsuki is 408 kilometers (255 miles) west of Tokyo.