Police said Wednesday they used wiretapping in a murder case for the first time last year and arrested a suspect in the gangland slaying.
The Mie Prefectural Police obtained a warrant for wiretapping after they determined it was highly likely an underworld group was involved in the fatal shooting of a senior member of a gang affiliated with Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, in the prefecture in July 2003, police officials said.
After wiretapping the communications of various people, investigators were able to pinpoint a suspect and arrest the individual, they said.
The suspect was charged with murder in line with the Penal Code.
Arrest warrants have been issued for seven people in the case, and one remains at large.
Since the law authorizing wiretaps in investigations involving organized crime went into effect in August 2000, police conducted wiretaps only for drug investigations -- two cases each in 2002 and 2003 and four cases in 2004.
The communications intercept law allows investigative authorities, with a court order, to tap telephone conversations and monitor e-mail in cases involving drugs, firearms, large-scale smuggling and organized murder.
Mie Prefectural Police will report on the wiretapping case at the Diet on Feb. 3.