TOKYO, Dec 30: Police believe a member of an extremist group based in Pakistan has entered Japan with the aim of setting up a base in Washington’s closest Asian ally, a newspaper report said on Friday.

A member of the outlawed group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan entered Japan in 2003, according to documents from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper said.

Police have discovered that the man frequented mosques in the Tokyo area and that he told other people that he came to Japan to set up a ‘launch pad’ for the group, the report said.

The police arrested one of the Pakistani men who had contacts with him on suspicion of overstay, it said.—AFP