An unguarded gangster appealing a life sentence for smuggling amphetamines from North Korea has vanished from a hospital in Chiba Prefecture, according to Tokyo High Court officials.
Police are searching for Atsunori Fukushima, 69, a senior member of an affiliate of the Matsuba-kai underworld syndicate.
The Tokyo District Court convicted Fukushima last March and sentenced him to life in prison, fined him ¥10 million and tacked on an additional penalty of about ¥960 million.
According to the high court, Fukushima was not present in his hospital room when a nurse went to check on him around 7 p.m. Sunday.
As he had not returned by around 9 p.m., the court judged that Fukushima had escaped. There were no police watching him at the hospital.
Fukushima was hospitalized Feb. 18 after presiding Judge Kohei Ikeda of the high court trial suspended his detention on Feb. 14 after receiving complaints from his lawyers that his health had deteriorated.
The suspension was canceled Monday.
According to the Tokyo District Court, Fukushima conspired with other gangsters to smuggle in about 230 kg of amphetamines in June and October 2002. The group had North Korean-registered cargo ships drop the drugs in waters off Shimane Prefecture and later collected them.
The appellate trial started in December.