Fake bomb threats baffle the police across Asia

SEOUL – For years, bomb threats bearing the name of Mr Takahiro Karasawa churned out of fax machines across Asia: first in Japan, then in South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

But there have been no bombs.

Mr Karasawa, a Japanese lawyer, has said he has nothing to do with this. There have been arrests in connection with the threats, but they have kept coming, causing panic, evacuations and investigations in multiple Asian countries.

No one has a clue about who is sending them and why.

Mr Karasawa’s name has come back under the spotlight in recent months with a spike in threats in South Korea. Several schools and malls in Seoul, the capital, were evacuated after they received faxed threats.

The next month, a staff member at Ajou University, south of Seoul, received an e-mail with the subject, “Everyone at Ajou University will die”. It said bombs had been planted at 38 locations on the campus and was sent from an account named Takahiro Karasawa.

“We panicked at first and immediately reported it to the police,” said Mr Lee Byeong-hee, a university spokesman.

Dozens of police officers and firefighters arrived at the university. One of the officers, a bomb expert, said there were no signs of any explosives and that another university had received a similar threat earlier that day.

The authorities believe the sender to be the same person who sent threatening faxes and e-mails since August 2023.

South Korea has opened an international investigation. Its National Police Agency said in October that it had sought help from the Japanese authorities and Interpol. A South Korean official said the agency was also in touch with US law enforcement agencies because the threats were sent through a US company that allows people to send faxes from the internet.

Interpol did not respond to a request for comment. Japan’s National Police Agency said it does not comment on requests it has received from police officials in other countries.

Meanwhile, there is no end in sight for Mr Karasawa, who did not comment. He has blamed the threats on users on internet forums, who he says have targeted him because he represented victims of online harassment a decade ago. NYTIMES