A 23-year-old man who allegedly cut the hair of a woman on a train in Aichi Prefecture was arrested Monday amid reports of about 30 similar cases.

Akiya Yoshida, a graduate student from the city of Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, admitted to the charges and to the other cases, saying he planned to sell the hair via online auctions, according to the police. He was held at the scene on Monday.

Yoshida is suspected of using scissors to cut the hair of a 40-year-old woman on Monday morning in an express train on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line, the police said.

The train was packed with commuters and the woman did not notice that her hair had been trimmed by about 35 cm, they said.

Yoshida's arrest came after police received complaints from other women whose hair or skirt had been cut on trains in the prefecture since May, and enhanced their patrols.