Toyama Prefectural Police have launched investigations into an alleged coverup of a 1995 case in which police released a man suspected of using illegal stimulants without sending him to prosecutors, police sources said Tuesday.
The prefectural police are questioning more than 10 serving and retired officers over the suspicious release, which occurred a day after the 39-year-old civil engineer was arrested by the Yatsuo Police Station, the sources said.
Meanwhile, a former chief of the Toyama Police Station was found dead Tuesday morning at his home in what police said was an apparent suicide. The former chief had been involved in a probe of a drug-smuggling ring linked to organized crime around the time of the 1995 case, investigators said.
Prefectural police believe senior officials at the time decided to immediately release the man because he gave them information on another drug case the Toyama Police Station was investigating, they said.