Police on Friday referred to prosecutors a case on four police officers alleged to have secretly installed surveillance cameras on the premises of a building used by opposition supporters in Kyushu.
The officers from the Oita Prefectural Police, including the head of an investigative division for election-related crimes at a police station, could be prosecuted for illegally entering a building. The incident occurred just before official campaigning began for the July 10 House of Councilors' election.
Police said the cameras were installed on the premises in the hot-spring resort town of Beppu, in Oita Prefecture, to monitor certain civil servants who were banned from being involved in election campaigning. They admitted that the method used for the investigation was "inappropriate."