Japanese detainee found dead in USJ8 lockup

PETALING JAYA, June 8 — A Japanese man who was arrested for brandishing a knife at auxiliary police after trespassing into a university near here on June 2, was found hanged at the grille of his lock up cell at the USJ 8 police station, Subang Jaya, early this morning.

Selangor deputy police chief Datuk A. Thaiveegan said Nobuhiro Matsushita, 33, was found dead at 4am and was believed to have hanged himself on the grille bar by using his own shirt.

“An autopsy report issued by the University Malaya Medical Centre found that the suspect died as a result of hanging and that there were no injuries on his body.

“Initial police investigations also confirmed that no foul play resulted in his death,” he told a press conference here today.

He said an inspection by a lock-up policeman an hour before had found that all detainees, including the man, were in good condition.

Thaiveegan said the suspect, who was arrested on June 2 after making criminal threats to the auxiliary police personnel who wanted to arrest him for intruding into a store at the university, initially was placed in a cell with other detainees before been segregated for intrusiveness on the other detainees.

“The man was arrested and remanded for criminal intimidation and for criminal invasion until June 17.

“An inspection on his passport also found that were no records on his entry into the country and his detention also related to immigration matters,” he said.

Thaiveegan said police had several times called in a translator from the Japanese embassy for the purposes of the investigation because the suspect did not speak English.

He said police had contacted his family to inform the incident through the embassies and were informed that it would take some time for them to come over.

“We are awaiting for a full report from the pathologist and when’ve received, we will submit the investigation file or the sudden death report to the Attorney-General’s Chamber for further instructions... so we are following everything according to procedure,” he added. — Bernama