Confiscated antigen test kits, which are not approved by the Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, are seen at Kyoto Prefectural Police's Fukuchiyama Police Station on Sept. 28, 2021. (Mainichi/Koji Sato)

       KYOTO -- Two employees at a Kyoto-based mail-order company for hygiene products and other goods were arrested Sept. 28 for allegedly selling coronavirus antigen test kits not approved by the Japanese government, in what Kyoto Prefectural Police say is the first case of its kind in Japan.

       Prefectural Police arrested 39-year-old Kagawa Prefecture resident Masatoshi Izutsu, business promotion department manager at Cogito Inc., and department head Tomoka Inamura, 30, a resident of the city of Koganei in suburban Tokyo, on suspicion of violating the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Act.

       The suspects are alleged to have advertised Chinese-made test kits not approved by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on the company's website between December 2020 and March 2021.

       The products were reportedly promoted using phrases such as "test for infection" and "just 15 minutes until you get the results." Seven kits were sold for between 4,290 (about $39) and 4,620 yen (roughly $41) each for a total of 30,360 yen (some $272) to five people including a woman in her 20s living in Kyoto.

       According to prefectural police, both suspects admitted to the allegations. Izutsu was quoted as saying, "I sold them with good intentions," while Inamura reportedly said, "I wanted to increase company sales." The two are believed to have sold some 2,300 kits for a total of at least 10 million yen (about $90,000).

       Prefectural police had the test kits evaluated by an external organization, and found their accuracy to reportedly be as low as one-264th of an approved product's, and that they showed negative results in most cases.

       An officer at the prefectural police's Fukuchiyama Police Station found the website during a cyber patrol, and police were investigating the case.

       The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare previously warned of unapproved test kits in February, and stated their accuracy had not been ascertained.

       (Japanese original by Takumi Fujikawa, Kyoto Bureau, and Koji Sato, Fukuchiyama Local Bureau)

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