A group of fishermen helped arrest Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s attacker

Assoon as Tsutomu Konishi noticed an object flying overhead and fell near the prime minister Fumio Kishida At a campaign event in the fishing port of Wakayama, Japan, he and a group of fishermen surrounded the man later identified by authorities as a suspect in the attack.

As a security guard covered the thrown object with a bulletproof case, one of the fishermen grabbed the man from behind by the neck, another pushed his head down and Konishi clung on to his leg.

The fishermen subdued the man while the police threw him to the ground.

Moments later on Saturday there was an explosion, with the crowd fleeing in panic as officers dragged the suspect, a man carrying a silver backpack, away.

The teamwork of fishermen from this close-knit community has caused a stir on social media in Japan, leading many to wonder if they were plainclothes police.

Senior fishing community officials say they and the police were fully prepared to welcome the prime minister on his first visit to the area, but some said security measures could have been tightened, especially after the assassination of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July last year.

“I never thought a crime like this would happen in my hometown, which is a pretty small fishing area,” Konishi, 41, said in an interview Sunday over a can of coffee. at the port of Sakazaki.

“I’m still in shock and dazed”he added.

Perfect security can be difficult, but “at a time when Japan’s acting prime minister was visiting, we might have needed a metal detector,” Konishi said.

The police arrested Ryuji Nakamura24 years old, suspected of throwing an explosive metal tube at Kishida.

The Prime Minister was safely evacuated before the explosion. Only one person, a police officer, was injured after one of his arms was severed by fragments of the suspected pipe bomb, which did not fully explode.

With information from AP

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