Japan police to get 1,400 submachine guns to fight terrorism
Police forces in 28 of Japan’s 47 prefectures will get 1,379 submachine guns by the end of March next year to combat terrorism, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Friday.
It will mark the first time for conventional police to be equipped with such arms.
Special antiterrorism units had been the only forces equipped with submachine guns. They are used by the 200-member Special Assault Team, which has personnel in Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Chiba, Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures, the NPA said.
The agency said riot police guarding U.S. bases and nuclear plants in the 28 prefectures will be equipped with the guns. Associated expenditures are included in the NPA’s 9.04 billion yen request for appropriations in a supplementary budget for this fiscal year.
Of the requested sum, 7.54 billion yen will be earmarked for emergency measures to fight terrorism. The agency said it plans to procure more flak jackets, bulletproof helmets and armored vehicles with the money.
The NPA will also establish special units to combat terrorism involving nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in six prefectures by the end of next March, NPA officials said.
Similar units have been set up in Tokyo and Osaka, but new teams will be launched at prefectural police headquarters in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Kanagawa, Aichi, Hiroshima and Fukuoka prefectures.
The units in the eight prefectures will be equipped with detectors for biological weapons for the first time, the NPA said.
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Simplified detectors for such weapons will also be provided to conventional forces in the 28 prefectures, including the eight, that will be armed with submachine guns.
In addition, the agency will purchase bomb detectors and high-performance explosive ordnance disposal devices with the counterterrorism budget, they said.