Indonesian accused of kidnapping Japanese

Indonesian accused of kidnapping Japanese

TOKYO (Antara): A Japanese businessman has filed a report with local police over the kidnapping of his son by an Indonesian in December 1998, a source from the local police said as quoted by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily on Wednesday.

The son has already been released and returned to Japan.

Seiji Kawashima, 55, and his son Yoichi Kawashima, 31, were involved in a two-year partnership with an Indonesian export agency in Jakarta to buy Arwana fish.

In December, Yoichi came to Jakarta after the agency's director asked for a loan, the source said.

The agency's director asked Yoichi for 11 million yen. When Yoichi denied the request he was kidnapped and held for ransom.

Seiji sent the ransom to Jakarta and reported the case to local police in Japan.

The kidnappers then demanded another 9 million yen from the senior Kawashima, but after a few days they released Yoichi at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The Japanese Embassy, after learning about the case from Seiji, contacted Yoichi at the airport and returned him to Japan on Dec. 30.

Meanwhile, the agency's director in Jakarta denied that he had kidnapped Yoichi, saying that the 11 million yen was payment for the fish.

Japanese police have contacted Indonesia's International Police Commission (Interpol) and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The elder Kawashima will also file a report with police in Indonesia.