KUMAMOTO -- A farmer arrested for drinking beer while driving on an expressway complained during questioning that he was taken into custody even though he did not cause an accident, investigators said.

Kiyohiko Takahara, 48, a resident of Kuroki, Fukuoka Prefecture, is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.

"I never caused an accident, so what's the problem?" he was quoted as telling investigators during questioning, while admitting to the allegations against him.

Takahara left home in his car at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday and drove onto the Kyushu Expressway from Yame Interchange. Another driver spotted him drinking beer while at the wheel, and alerted police.

In response, officers at a checkpoint near Ueki Interchange ordered Takahara to stop. They arrested him after a breath test found that he was driving under the influence of alcohol, prefectural police said.

The officers subsequently found two empty 350-milliliter beer cans and four unopened cans of beer in Takahara's vehicle.

He was quoted as telling investigators that he had drunk five cans of beer at home between 12 and 3 a.m. on Tuesday.

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