On January 14, the Saitama Prefectural Police announced that they had arrested an illegal passer-by for fraudulently avoiding the toll that was originally to be paid.

In this case, the suspect presented an ETC card with no information on the inflowing IC to the staff at the exit toll gate, and made a false statement that the inflow was from an IC different from the IC that actually flowed in (near the exit IC). By doing so, he was improperly exempted from paying the toll that he or she originally should have paid.

NEXCO EAST Kanto Regional Head Office (Taito-ku, Tokyo), we have been working with a strong stance of “tolerating unauthorized traffic” so as not to damage customers' trust in the toll road business. We believe that the recent arrest of a person who commits malicious tolls will help ensure fairness in toll charges and prevent unauthorized tolls.

We will continue to take a resolute attitude toward illegal traffic and will actively cooperate with police investigations to tackle illegal traffic.

The suspect will be checked for toll charges and will be charged a surcharge (twice the illegal toll charge) in addition to the illegal toll charge.