Tokyo police to set up specialist section for lone wolf terrorists

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) plans to set up a section specializing in investigating lone wolves who carry out terrorist attacks independently without any ties to any organization, according to informed sources.

This will be the first time for such a section to be established in a Japanese police department, the sources said.

The MPD will create the section in April next year when it reorganizes its Public Security Bureau with the aim of strengthening its information-gathering capabilities as part of efforts to prevent terrorism and serious crimes.

Incidents involving lone wolves have emerged in the country in recent years, such as the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 and an incident in April 2023 in which an explosive was thrown at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a campaign tour.

Read more: The Japan Times