Police link more Chinese nationals to Japanese delivery worker arrested last week

Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested two more Chinese nationals on charges of copyright violation, after they allegedly uploaded Japanese manga for an overseas site before release. Three other Chinese men were arrested last week for uploading to a different overseas site without authorization, and police are looking into the possibility that there are many Chinese groups doing the same in Japan.

According to a source tied to the investigation, the two Chinese nationals are suspected of posting the latest chapter of The Seven Deadly Sins, a popular manga that runs in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine, to a piracy website before publication.

The police indicate that the two suspects obtained the magazine from Takehisa Hidaka. Hidaka is the same 69-year-old delivery company worker from Saitama who was arrested on November 13 for allegedly giving Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine to the three previous suspects. Those three suspects were arrested on November 12-13 for allegedly posting the One Piece manga without authorization.

Hidaka reportedly said under deposition that he sold the magazines without authorization, but claimed that he did not know what they would be used for. The police say that Hidaka took the magazines during their delivery from the printer to the bookstores. The manga allegedly given to the Chinese nationals was then reportedly posted to piracy sites with English translations, as quickly as four to five hours after delivery.

The police are investigating if Hidaka committed these acts repeatedly for payment from the Chinese nationals. There are at least three piracy websites involved, and the police are looking into various connections and the possibility of multiple Chinese groups committing these acts.

Source: Yomiuri

Update: The Association of Copyright for Computer Software reported on Thursday that the two Chinese men from Asaka, Saitama took a chapter of The Seven Deadly Sins and posted it on the website Red Hawk on October 5.