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Japanese woman arrested after dumping four babies in buckets, which she filled with concrete and kept for more than 20 years

She told police she dumped the dead babies between 1992 and 1997, saying she did not have money to raise them

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Investigators examine an flat in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture. Mayumi Saito was arrested in the early hours of November 21 on suspicion of dumping four babies she had given birth to in buckets she filled with concrete. She has told police that she did not have money to raise the children. Photo: Kyodo

A Japanese woman was arrested Tuesday after police say she confessed to putting four newborns in concrete-filled buckets two decades ago and having been filled with guilt over not caring for her babies.

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Human remains were identified in four buckets found in her condominium, an Osaka police official said.

Mayumi Saito, 53, was arrested Tuesday on charges of abandoning bodies, a day after she turned herself in at the police station.

Saito was quoted by police as saying she put the bodies into concrete from 1992 through 1997 because she had been too poor to raise them, but she had been filled with guilt over the years.

Saito had a part-time job, but details of her work, family and comments were not available.

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The causes of the babies’ deaths were unclear. It is fairly standard in Japan for criminal charges to be added later as an investigation progresses.

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