Papers sent in airport death of Ghana man

Japanese Police have sent papers to prosecutors on 10 immigration officers in connection with the death of a Ghanaian man whom they subdued immediately before his deportation by plane, it was learned Tuesday.

Their action to overpower the man when he physically resisted before boarding a plane at Narita Airport may have resulted in his death, the Chiba prefectural police said.

Papers were sent to the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office on the officers, men aged 24 to 48, at the Immigration Bureau.

The officers are suspected of assaulting the 45-year-old Ghana man, Abubakar Awudu Suraj, in a manner that caused his death when he resisted boarding a March 22 flight bound for Cairo.

Official autopsies were conducted but the cause of death remains unknown.

Suraj's widow filed a criminal complaint with the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office against the immigration officers on suspicion of abuse of authority resulting in death. She suspects Suraj suffocated after being gagged with a towel.

The Chiba prefectural police said sending papers was just a routine step in their standard criminal procedures.