pepper spray

　福岡空港国際線ターミナルで、多額の現金を所持していた韓国籍の男数人が身柄を確保されました。警察は強盗との関連を調べています。

4 S. Koreans arrested after \380 mil. robbery

Police arrested four South Korean men on Friday for allegedly attempting to leave Japan at Fukuoka Airport carrying \735 million of undeclared cash, in violation of the customs law.

The arrests came the day after a 29-year-old company employee was robbed of a suitcase containing \380 million in cash shortly after withdrawing the money from a bank branch in Fukuoka. The four suspects have denied involvement in the robbery, suggesting that they were asked by an acquaintance to keep the \735 million, police sources said.

The Fukuoka prefectural police department is carefully investigating whether they were part of the robbery.

中略

When he reached the car, he was suddenly assaulted from behind with pepper spray or a similar substance and robbed of the suitcase. The attackers — two men wearing work clothes and white masks — then entered a white Honda minivan parked a few lots away and drove south at a breakneck speed.

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003653349

　pepper sprayを取り上げます。催涙スプレーを表しているようですが、どうしてpepperスプレーなのでしょうか。手持ちの紙辞書では見つかりませんでしたが、電子辞書の『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第4版　大修館書店）によると「ペッパースプレー（オレンジトウガラシを成分とする噴霧型一時抑制剤、暴力行為を起こした人物に対して警察官が使用する）」とあり、トウガラシのpepperであることがわかりました。

　LDOCEには “a substance used especially by the police for controlling people. It contains red pepper and is sprayed into people’s eyes to make them blind for a short time.” と定義されています。

　4人は強盗事件への関与を否定していますが、これだけの金額を申告無しで持ち出そうとしていたとなると疑わざるをえない状況のようです。（aqua）