DNA test proves elderly construction worker was one of Japan’s most wanted fugitives

A wanted poster for Satoshi Kirishima (centre top), who spent almost 50 years on the run until admitting on his deathbed that he was a member of the terrorist group East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front. A DNA test confirmed his claim. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP

Satoshi Kirishima spent almost half a century evading arrest, until mortality intervened.

As deathbed confessions go, his was astonishing: having lived a double life as a construction worker, the 70-year-old was admitted last month to a hospital near Tokyo where he told staff he was, in fact, one of Japan’s most wanted fugitives.