Fukuoka Prefectural Police headquarters (Mainichi/Michiko Morizono)

       MUNAKATA, Fukuoka -- A 58-year-old man turned himself in to police here on the morning of Sept. 9 after a body was discovered the previous day wrapped in plastic bags at the home the man shares with his elder brother, investigative sources have told the Mainichi Shimbun.

       Investigators at Fukuoka Prefectural Police's Munakata Police Station are questioning the 58-year-old on the assumption that he knows what went on regarding the body. They plan to arrest him on suspicion of corpse abandonment as soon as the details are confirmed.

       According to police, a corpse wrapped in multiple black plastic bags held together with adhesive tape was found in a second-floor closet when a court enforcement officer and others arrived at the brothers' house to seize it at around 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 8. The body, which was about 160 centimeters tall, had no visible injuries. It was badly decomposed, and authorities believe the person has been dead for several months.

       The residence had been put up for auction, and was bought by a real estate firm in neighboring Saga Prefecture in June. According to a source close to the investigation, a court enforcement officer met the younger brother when they visited the house on Sept. 3 as part of preparations for the home's seizure. As the body is possibly that of the man's 59-year-old brother, police will conduct a judicial autopsy to ascertain his identity and the cause of death, while continuing to question the man.

       (Japanese original by Yoshihito Asano and Rokuhei Sato, Kyushu News Department)

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