Police in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, have arrested a 54-year-old man on suspicion of fraudulent obstruction of business after he told a woman on a train that he was infected with the coronavirus, causing a delay to the train operator’s schedule.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. Monday aboard a train on the JR Ryoma Line, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police said Kiyoshi Kogure, a construction worker from Tochigi Prefecture, was drunk at the time of the incident. They said he told a nearby female passenger that he was infected with the coronavirus.
When the train arrived at Kiryu Station, passengers notified station officials who called police. All passengers were asked to get off the train. Four police officers in hazmat clothing escorted Kogure to a health center where he tested negative for the virus. Police also contacted a health center in Tochigi Prefecture which said Kogure had not been tested in the prefecture.
Police said Kogure told them it was just a joke.
The incident caused a one-hour delay along the Ryoma Line.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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Vince Black
Attention seeking knobhead.
Lenga
Police said Kogure told them it was just a joke.
Slap him with a hefty fine to be a lesson for similar morons
Luddite
Lock him up. Those that deliberately spread panic are scum.
rgcivilian1
Very costly joke and this time the " I was drunk" not going to cut it.
dbsaiya
Non hospitalized solitary confinement for idiots who put others at risk.
Do the hustle
What are demented twit!
DaDude
So that is how one can get tested?
Frank
Just slap a Heavy fine on the Selfish Idiot!
He will not like losing his Drinking Money!
KevinMcgue
The Ryoma line only runs once or twice an hour as it is.
Mirai Hayashi
Fine him a million yen for every minute the train was stopped.
sir_bentley28
There's a time, place and type/demographic of jokes. This surely wasn't either. Could you imagine the woman he was talking to felt? Especially if he wasn't wearing a mask. String him up by his wallet and savings!
B. Jay
Expensive joke. I can imagine him saying ' Jodan, jodan desuyo'
jeancolmar
"Police said Kiyoshi Kogure, a construction worker from Tochigi Prefecture, was drunk at the time of the incident. They said he told a nearby female passenger that he was infected with the coronavirus."
I hope this isn't going to be the latest pickup line.
Yubaru
Welcome to Japan! Probably thought it was a great pick-up line! Drunken bastard!
TARA TAN KITAOKA
Wow, what is happening in this world ???. Every excuse is the corona virus.