Osaka prefectural police said Thursday that a 27-year-old police officer has been arrested for allegedly getting a minor drunk and then raping her.

According to police, the officer, identified as Masaya Nagata, is accused of plying a female vocational school student, whose age was reported as between 15 and 19 years of age, with alcohol at a beach in Kaizuka on Tuesday, NTV reported. Although the legal drinking age in Japan is 20 years of age, Nagata reportedly pressured the girl to finish her drink in one go, causing her to become intoxicated -- at which point he allegedly raped her.

Investigators were quoted as saying that Nagata has admitted to giving the girl alcohol and to having intercourse with her, but denies rape, NTV reported. Nagata was at the beach with four colleagues and they were all off duty, police said.

© Japan Today