CHIKUSHINO, Fukuoka -- Four men threatened two police investigators with a gun, bashed one of them and robbed the other of his ID in the predawn hours of Thursday, police said.

Local police are searching for the four men, suspecting that they are yakuza, on suspicion of robbery and of obstructing officers from performing their official duties.

The incident occurred at a parking lot in Chikushino early Thursday when a 47-year-old assistant inspector and a 31-year-old sergeant were investigating an incident in which a yakuza organization illegally sold paint thinner for sniffing, according to investigators.

The two investigators approached an unmanned car belonging to one of the targets of their investigation at around 3:15 a.m. when four men wearing balaclavas suddenly got out of another vehicle parked nearby, prefectural police said.

One of them threatened the officers with a gun and asked, "Are you members of the Kyushu Seido-kai (gang)?"

The assistant inspector showed his ID saying, "We're police officers." One of them snatched the ID and another hit the sergeant with a steel bar before they fled, investigators said.

The sergeant suffered minor injuries to his left elbow. The investigators were not carrying their guns at the time.

The parking lot where the officers were assaulted is located in a residential area near Haruda Station on the JR Kagoshima Line.

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