A couple in their 60s were arrested early Saturday after a police bomb squad was deployed to check out suspicious items dumped along two expressways spanning five prefectures that later turned out to be containers of glue.
Fourteen parking and rest stops on the interconnected expressways were temporarily closed Friday until the police confirmed no explosives or toxic substances were in the metal containers, which were about 10 cm in diameter and 6 cm tall.
Woodworker Sumio Hori, 63, and his wife, Hideko, 62, who live in Ginan, Gifu Prefecture, told police Friday night they had heard reports about the containers and admitted they dumped them.
The Gifu Prefectural Police arrested them at a service area on the Tohoku-Hokuriku Expressway where four of the containers were found, and are investigating the likelihood they were disposing of glue that the man was using for his work, they said.
The containers also were found in Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui and Shiga prefectures, including on the Hokuriku Expressway.