Police have arrested two men aged 20 and 21 in the brutal stabbing death of a Japanese motorcycle tourist in the Zabaikalsk region earlier this month.
The body of 31-year-old Koiti Onita was found May 22 outside the Siberian city of Chita on a remote stretch of road leading to Irkutsk near Lake Baikal. Next to the body police discovered Onita's Suzuki motorcycle, clothes, a mobile phone, and a large amount of Russian currency.
According to the account pieced together by investigators, the two suspects encountered Koiti on May 21 near where Koiti had pitched a tent outside the village of Zhipkhegen, the Investigative Committee said in a statement Thursday.
As the two men were walking home, they made a decision to kill Koiti and steal his belongings, the statement said. On the night of May 21, they went to Koiti's tent and stabbed him through the tent.
Koiti's body was later found by police with 30 stab wounds.
After the men killed Koiti, they gathered his things. But when a car passed on a nearby road, they dropped the stolen items and ran away.
Investigators suspect that other people were also involved in Koiti's murder and are continuing the inquiry, an Investigative Committee spokesperson told Interfax.
Last week, a Japanese diplomat traveled to the Zabaikalsk region city of Chita in response to Koiti's murder.
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