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Man Charged With Illegally Dumping 585 AKB48 CDs

One man has found himself in hot water with Chikushino, Fukuoka authorities after he illegally dumped 585 AKB48 CDs. In what appears to be another case of trying to buy up CDs to affect idol events, Chikushino police arrested a local resident, a man in his 30s, for dumping the CDs at a mountain in the neighboring city of Dazaifu in June.

Strangely, the CDs were originally purchased by a man living in Chiba prefecture to take part in the AKB48 49th Single General Election. However, after inputting about 1,000 CD serial numbers, he realized he wouldn't be able to finish. He asked other fellow fans in Kyushu to input the remaining numbers, approximately 600. These fans took up his request, but then when it came to disposing of the CDs, one dumped approximately 11 cardboard boxes of CDs at the mountain.

The CDs were discovered by locals walking around the mountain on June 12. Police found the Chiba's man address still on the cardboard boxes and were able to track down his Fukuoka colleagues after speaking with him. The man responsible for dumping the CDs admitted his guilt, saying that after inputting the serial numbers he decided to dump the CDs because they were troublesome.

The news report notes that buying up CDs in this way can lead to problems after the related special event ends. Most second-hand stores, like Book Off, will not purchase many copies and generally will not buy more than two of the same product from a single person to prevent the company from purchasing large amounts of stolen goods.

In January 2014, six male college students were arrested after dumping 680 CDs purchased for the chance to win tickets to an idol handshake event. They dumped the CDs in a parking lot in Kyoto. Hyogo prefecture police arrested a 25-year-old man in 2014 for dumping 500lbs of potato chips he purchased to win Nana Mizuki concert tickets.

Source: Nishi Nippon via Hachima Kikō