A woman in Japan was arrested for allegedly making more than 2 thousand 5 hundred emergency calls in just under three years because she was “lonely”.
Police arrested Hiroko Hatagami, an unemployed woman living in Matsudo, a city east of Tokyo, on suspicion of obstructing the operations of a local fire department.
Hatagami is accused of repeatedly making emergency calls from her home and neighbourhood.
She reportedly called emergency services 2,761 times over a period of about two years and nine months.
That equates to almost 3 calls a day on average.
During the emergency calls, she reportedly complained about a stomach ache, a potential drug overdose and her aching legs, among other symptoms.
Despite receiving warnings from the fire department and the police station to stop making unnecessary calls, she continued to do so.
The 51-year-old suspect has reportedly admitted to the allegations, and was quoted telling investigators: “I was lonely and wanted someone to listen to me and give me attention.”
This isn’t the first time Japanese authorities have had to deal with an issue of this nature.
In 2013, Japanese police arrested a woman for calling them more than 15,000 times over a six-month period.
Police said they visited the 44-year-old woman’s home about 60 times before slapping handcuffs on her.