A USB flash drive containing troop deployment maps used in Japan-U.S. military exercises, which had reportedly been lost by a Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) member, was actually stolen and dumped by another member, the force has admitted.

The 33-year-old captain stole the memory stick along with 2,000 yen in cash and a 10,000-yen airline coupon for shareholders from a colleague in mid-February last year.

The GSDF announced on May 24 last year that it had suspended the captain for 60 days for stealing the money and coupon, although it covered up the theft of the USB flash drive.

Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba justified the force's decision to withhold the loss of the flash drive.

"We feared that the information could further spread if some people searched for it (on the Internet)," he told a press conference after a regular Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

In February last year, a lieutenant colonel at a GSDF unit in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, borrowed the USB flash drive containing troops deployment maps used for Japan-U.S. joint exercises between Feb. 8 to 16 from the unit and lent it to a sergeant first class.

It went missing after the sergeant went home on Feb. 14, leaving it on his desk. The unit subsequently reprimanded the lieutenant colonel and sergeant for losing the memory stick.

In April last year, the 33-year-old captain who had been missing was found collapsed at a hotel in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, after swallowing a massive amount of medical drugs.

After he received treatment, the captain confessed to his bosses that he had stolen the memory stick and dumped it. GSDF police officers then arrested him for theft.

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