Tokyo Metropolitan Police again searched the dormitory of the Nihon University American football team on Tuesday after other players came under suspicion of possessing cannabis, investigative sources have said.
The facility in Tokyo's Nakano Ward was previously searched on Aug. 3, leading to the arrest two days later of 21-year-old Noriyasu Kitabatake on suspicion of possessing cannabis and an illegal stimulant.
The university ordered the American football team to suspend practice indefinitely following Kitabatake's arrest but said on Aug. 10 that it had lifted the ban as "many students' efforts will come to nothing if they are forced to assume joint responsibility." The team resumed practice the next day.
It said it did not notify police upon receiving a report in November from a team member who said he had smoked "something like cannabis."
The school also only contacted the metropolitan police department 12 days after a cannabis-like substance was discovered in a dorm in July.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has asked the university to set up a third-party committee to investigate its delayed response.
The American football team has recently been embroiled in multiple scandals, with its coach indefinitely suspended from July 27 due to allegations of bullying.
In 2018, the team came under fire over a dangerous tackle by one of its members in an exhibition against Kwansei Gakuin University.