A Fukuoka Prefectural Police officer charged with kidnapping a 9-year-old girl in Saga Prefecture last month was served a fresh warrant Saturday on suspicion that he abducted another schoolgirl in November.
Saga police took Hiroyuki Tomita, 25, into custody last month for allegedly abducting a 9-year-old girl in Tosu, Saga Prefecture. He has been indicted on a charge of kidnapping with intent to commit an obscene act.
Tomita has denied the charge. The Fukuoka police have suspended him from duty.
The Saga police allege Tomita forced the other elementary school girl, whose name and age were withheld to protect her privacy, into his car on the afternoon of Nov. 4 when she was on her way home from school in Tosu.
They believe Tomita drove around with her in Tosu for about an hour before releasing her a few hundred meters from where she was snatched.
Tomita was off duty that day, as in the February kidnapping.
The police said they identified Tomita's car on the basis of testimony by the girl, who remembered the interior and other features of the vehicle.
His car was seen on a main road in Tosu around the time of the kidnapping, they said. Similarities between the cases led investigators to believe the crimes were committed by the same suspect.