National / Crime & Legal

Man arrested for allegedly threatening to kill member of AKB48 spin-off group

Kyodo

NIIGATA – A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill a member of a sister group of the popular AKB48 girl band, police said.

Kazuki Domoto was arrested Monday for threatening Yuka Ogino, a member of NGT48 based in the city of Niigata, by faxing a letter to a news organization May 9 suggesting he would kill her, according to the police.

Last December, two people were arrested for allegedly assaulting another NGT48 member, Maho Yamaguchi, who left the group Saturday. AKS Co., the management company for NGT48, came under criticism for its handling of Yamaguchi’s case as it did not reveal the incident until she referred to it in a Twitter post.

The Niigata Prefectural Police said Domoto, who lives in Kyoto Prefecture, has admitted to sending the fax but denied any intention of killing Ogino.

The police said a record of the letter’s transmission from a convenience store in Kyoto and security camera footage led to Domoto’s arrest.

In addition to several other AKB48 spin-off groups in Japan, there are overseas sister units such as JKT48 in Indonesia, BNK48 in Thailand and MNL48 in the Philippines.

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