Police investigating an explosion that killed an Air Self-Defense Force sergeant found two antitank rockets and 15 rocket launchers Friday in a house he rented to store some of his military items.
Senior Master Sgt. Takio Tamura, 53, who died Sunday while handling ammunition at a separate storage site, is suspected of amassing an arsenal that included at least four antitank rockets, 15 rocket launchers, a U.S. military issue M-16 rifle and about 500 rounds of ammunition, and an M-1 carbine rifle and about 50 rounds and 50 empty magazines.
They said the two 66-mm antitank rockets found Friday at the house in Naha's Oroku district, which Tamura rented in 1995, are the same type as two found Tuesday at his home in Naha's Gushi district along with the M-16 rifle and the bullets.