Japan Taxi Driver Arrested For Drugging, Assaulting 50 Women; 3,000 Videos, Images Seized
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The police arrested the cab driver on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse and violation of the law on punishment of filming of sexual parts.
A 54-year-old former Japanese taxi driver has been arrested for allegedly drugging and raping a female passenger. Media reports suggest that there could be several more victims, as police have reportedly found videos of him sexually assaulting women.
Officials have discovered nearly 3,000 videos and images of the man sexually assaulting 50 women in either his taxi or his home, The Yomiuri Shimbun daily and Jiji Press reported.
The arrest came a year after the accused, identified as Satoshi Tanaka, gave sleeping pills to a woman in her 20s while she was taking a ride in his taxi. The victim lost consciousness due to the sleeping pills, after which he took her to his home and sexually assaulted her. He also filmed the incident.
'The man got a woman, then in her 20s, to take sleeping pills, which caused her to lose consciousness, took her to his home and committed an indecent act, which he filmed," a Tokyo police spokesman told AFP.
The police arrested the cab driver on Wednesday on 'suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse and violation of the law on punishment of filming of sexual parts," he added, without giving further details.
Media reports also suggest that traces of sleeping pills were found in the woman's hair.
Meanwhile, the police recovered the footage of this incident, along with several other clips of assault, on the man's phone and other devices dating back to 2008.
Tanaka was reportedly also arrested earlier in October for allegedly drugging another woman and robbing her of 40,000 yen ($280).
He was released then but was later taken into custody again in December for alleged indecent assault, say media reports.
First Published:
May 23, 2025, 08:31 IST
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