TOKYO, April 3: Japanese police on Thursday arrested a US sailor suspected of murder, the latest in a series of alleged crimes involving the American military that have sparked anger in local communities here.

Olatunbosun Ugbogu, 22, a Nigerian national who serves in the US Navy, was arrested over the killing of taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi last month, a police spokesman said.

The US Navy handed the sailor over to Japanese police after an arrest warrant was issued earlier in the day. Japan complained to the United States over the incident, which comes amid already tense relations between the US military and local communities.

“It is extremely regrettable that an incident once again occurred involving a US serviceman,” Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer and senior military officers at a meeting on Thursday.

Schieffer expressed “the heartfelt regret that we all feel over this tragic incident.” According to local media, the sailor has admitted to police of killing Takahashi, 61, who was found dead on March 19 with a kitchen knife in his neck near Yokosuka, the biggest US naval base in Japan south of Tokyo.—AFP