Junya Hida, unemployed, had been locked up at the Tondabayashi police station since June 15 after being arrested four times by the police. He is also suspected to have been involved in an arson case in which a police vehicle and other objects of another police station were set on fire.
Hida is believed to have escaped from a visiting room of the detention facility on the police station's second floor by breaking an acrylic plate that divided the detainee and the visitor, informed sources said.
The Osaka prefectural police released a mug shot of Hida to put him on a nationwide wanted list, while 3,000 officers have been deployed in the search for his whereabouts on suspicion of aggravated escape.
According to the Tondabayashi police station, Hida met with his attorney in the visiting room from around 7:30 p.m. Sunday (10:30 a.m. GMT). The police found that Hida had disappeared when an officer checked the room at around 9:45 p.m.
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