An elementary school in Yokohama ignored a police report that a transfer student from disaster-hit Fukushima Prefecture was possibly being bullied and extorted by classmates, sources said Thursday.

The local police notified the school in November 2014 that other students were demanding money from the 13-year-old boy — some ¥1.5 million ($14,000) in sum. But the school and the Yokohama Municipal Board of Education both failed to fully respond, the sources said.

The case is sparking a reaction on the internet, where some say adults who spread rumors about nuclear radiation are to blame for the impetus for the bullying.