Amazon’s Japan unit raided over child porn image sales

NAGOYA (Kyodo) — Police have raided offices of the Japanese arm of U.S. online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. on suspicion of assisting the sale of child pornography, investigative sources said Saturday.

The police on Friday searched the Tokyo headquarters of Amazon Japan K.K., one of its affiliates and a distribution center in Chiba Prefecture over alleged violation of the law banning the public displays of child pornography.

Amazon Japan is suspected of helping sales of child pornography such as photo books of nude girls under 18 by leaving them on its website despite knowing they had been posted there, according to the sources.

Police in Aichi Prefecture found at the Amazon Japan site books containing nude images of underage girls on sale and arrested two men last September in connection with the case. Another Amazon distribution center in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, was raided in November.

Amazon Japan guidelines ban sales of illegal products, stolen items and adult entertainment goods including child pornography.

An official of the company declined to comment on the matter, but said it will deal with the situation in accordance with the law if requests are made by investigators.

January 24, 2015(Mainichi Japan)