Terminal cancer reveals identity of fugitive wanted in Japan for 50 years

A DNA test has helped reveal the identity of one of Japan’s most wanted criminals. Satoshi Kirishima, 70, was a member of a leftist militant group responsible for several bombings that killed several people in the 1970s. Lately he has been living cautiously, under a different name and without a mobile phone. The man has been a fugitive since the crime, despite his face being plastered on posters all over Japan.

According to the local press, quoted by BBCThe man’s true identity was only revealed when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. At the hospital, while undergoing treatment, he revealed details about his family and the East Asian Anti-Japanese Armed Front, which caused the staff to call the police. Satoshi Kirishima died on January 19, his DNA was taken for analysis, the results of which confirmed his identity.

Satoshi Kirishima is suspected of helping detonate a homemade bomb that destroyed part of a building in the Tokyo area on April 18, 1975, as well as other attacks carried out by the group. The group is suspected of carrying out an attack on the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries building, which left eight people dead and more than 160 injured. Two members of the organization were sentenced to death for their roles in the attacks, but Satoshi Kirishima was never found. Police never gave up searching for him, posting a photo of Kirishima, who is in his early 20s, on posters outside police stations across the country.

Last month, a Japanese man confessed to the crimes and admitted that he had lived under a different name for 50 years. He lived in the city of Fujisawa, on the western outskirts of Tokyo, under the name Hiroshi Uchida and worked in construction. Satoshi Kirishima was described as a “calm and serious” man who kept a low profile over the years to avoid being caught.

Police are investigating whether Kirishima had accomplices who were hiding from authorities.