WAKAYAMA -- A young male police officer of the Wakayama prefectural police temporarily lost his pistol on Friday after dropping it onto the road while he was in one of the vehicles in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's motorcade, it was announced Saturday.
The prefectural police did not immediately make the incident public to local residents.
The pistol was discovered by a male resident living nearby, who passed the item on to other police officers 80 minutes after it had been lost, according to the prefectural police, which added that the incident did not affect security for Abe, who was visiting Wakayama to attend a campaign event as one of the candidates for the upcoming Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
The incident took place at around 7:50 p.m. on Friday when the police officer, who is in his 20s and belongs to the prefectural police's riot squad, was getting into the front passenger seat of the last vehicle in the motorcade. Wearing regular clothing, the officer was carrying his pistol in a holster under his left armpit. When he leaned out of the window to signal other vehicles to hold back, the buckle of the holster got caught on the frame of the window and the pistol dropped onto the road, according to the prefectural police.
The officer and his colleagues in the same vehicle went back to the scene, only to find the pistol was not there.
About 50 police officers conducted a search, until a resident reported his find to some of the officers at around 9:10 p.m. He was quoted as saying that he discovered the pistol at around 8 p.m. before returning home.
The pistol did not sustain any damage and all its bullets were intact, according to the prefectural police.
At the time of the incident, Abe was heading for Kyoto after attending the event in Wakayama.
The officer was not wearing a strap to prevent his pistol from falling out. However, using a strap is not mandatory when officers are in regular clothes, according to the prefectural police.
"We deeply regret causing such an incident," a senior police officer said. "We will make every effort for it not to recur, such as by making sure straps are used at all times."
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