Police suspect a 74-year-old ex-chief of the business group, who runs a Chinese restaurant in Osaka, was involved in Hara's abduction. Hara was working as a cook at the restaurant when he disappeared at age 43.

The raids marked the first investigation by police into Hara's case after they obtained an arrest warrant in February for North Korean agent Sin Guang Su, 76.

Sin is on an international wanted list on suspicion of obtaining a passport under Hara's name in violation of Japan's passport law. Pyongyang has admitted abducting Hara but claims he died there of cirrhosis in 1986.

Police suspect that the restaurant head and Sin conspired with others to abduct Hara and take him by boat to North Korea from the Miyazaki coast in June 1980.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 1, 2006
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