Trap Fails To Catch Gun Owner
A Mainichi report on some hard-working public prosecutors:
YAMAGUCHI — Local prosecutors shot themselves in the foot when they set a bizarre trap for the owner of an illegal pistol — placing a poster at their office asking the owner to come forward to claim the weapon so they could be arrested. Not surprisingly, no one has stepped forward.
The move came after authorities from the Yamaguchi District Public Prosecutors Office were unable to dispose of a confiscated revolver because the owner was unknown. Under the Criminal Procedure Law, confiscated items — even an illegal gun — cannot be disposed of when ownership is unknown.
The announcement, which read, “Come forward to claim the gun whose ownership is unknown,” had been put up on a bulletin board in front of the prosecutors office until Monday, but no one claimed the revolver, disappointing law enforcers who were eager to arrest whoever claimed the weapon.
