By KUNA
Tokyo : Japanese police arrested a US serviceman on suspicion of trespassing into an office building in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa amid a 24-hour curfew imposed by the US military on their personnel since February 20, police said on Monday.
The 21-year-old airman at Kadena Air Base, who was arrested on Sunday, has admitted the allegations, the police said, adding that they also detected alcohol on the breath of the soldier.
His arrest comes a day after US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda vowed in their meeting to step up efforts to prevent similar illegal acts, following a series of incidents involving US servicemen in Okinawa, including an alleged rape of a 14-year-old local girl on February 11 that sparked tension.
The curfew applies to all Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel as well as their families and non-military staff in Okinawa. Military personnel living on bases are basically banned from leaving their base except for worship, education or medical treatment or their official duties.
Last year alone, 46 US military personnel were arrested in the prefecture in connection with criminal cases.
Japan hosts the largest concentration of US military in Asia, with more than 50,000 troops at bases throughout the country. As part of the US-Japan security alliance, about 75 percent of all US military facilities in the nation are located in Okinawa, which had been under the control of the US Military until 1972.