Prosecutors searched the welfare ministry Monday, a day after a senior ministry official was arrested for alleged involvement in abusing a postage discount system for the disabled.

The special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office entered the ministry to search the office of Atsuko Muraki, 53, director general of the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau. Her house in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, was searched earlier in the day.

Muraki was arrested on suspicion of issuing a fabricated certificate to recognize an organization as a group for the disabled, thus enabling it to use the postage discount system.