A fugitive murder suspect has been arrested after more than 45 years hiding from authorities, police in Japan said. 
 
 Masaaki Osaka was arrested Wednesday for five offences including murder, Tokyo police confirmed. 
 
 The 67-year-old is accused of killing a police officer during a Tokyo street protest in November 1971, according to public broadcaster NHK. 
 
 Masaaki Osaka, in an undated picture used for the police's wanted list. Jiji Press via AFP - Getty Images 
 
 He reportedly threw petrol over the 21-year-old police officer before setting him on fire, NHK reported. 
 
 The long-time fugitive was first arrested in May after police raided a communist hideout in Hiroshima City, according to regional newspaper Chunichi Shimbun. 
 
 Osaka was arrested for an unrelated minor offense — obstructing a police officer — but was identified through a DNA match, the newspaper reported. 
 
 As one of the most wanted men in Japan, Osaka’s face has appeared on posters in Tokyo for more than four decades. 
 
 Japan has no statute of limitation for murder after the law was revised in 2010. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Police say they have confirmed the identity of Mr Osaka through DNA tests 
 
 For one suspected murderer in Japan, it has been a case of being able to run but not being able to hide. 
 
 Left-wing revolutionary Masaaki Osaka has been arrested and charged for murdering a police officer during Tokyo street protests more than 45 years ago. 
 
 He allegedly set the officer on fire using a Molotov Cocktail petrol bomb. 
 
 No other suspected criminal has spent longer evading arrest, Japanese media report. The country has no statute of limitations for murder. 
 
 The 15-year time limit was abolished in 2010. 
 
 Where do prison escapees and absconders actually go? 
 
 Mr Osaka was arrested last month in a Hiroshima apartment belonging to the Chukaku-ha, or the Japan Revolutionary Communist League (JRCL). He is reported by police to have remained silent since being caught. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Masaaki Osaka has been wanted by police since the early 1970s 
 
 The fugitive was initially accused of a separate offence - obstructing the police - before officers claim to have realised who he was. 
 
 On Wednesday, he was transported from Hiroshima to Tokyo for further questioning, local media reported. 
 
 Police say they have confirmed his identity through DNA tests because fingerprints were unavailable at the time of the crime. 
 
 They say Mr Osaka was able to remain on the run for so long because he is a former high-ranking member of the radical left-wing JRCL and was assisted by sympathetic party associates. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The fugitive has appeared on wanted posters throughout the last four decades 
 
 The JRCL was established in the late 1950s and during the 1960s and 1970s earned a reputation for staging violent street protests. 
 
 Mr Osaka is accused of killing the 21-year-old police officer during a left wing riot in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in 1971. He is alleged to have assaulted him with a steel pipe before setting him alight. 
 
 The JRCL was protesting - among other things - against the recognition by Japan of the US military presence in the country. 
 
 The man alleged to be Mr Osaka's accomplice in the 1971 attack was charged in 1972, but his case was suspended because of mental illness. 
 
 Major events in Japan while Masaaki Osaka has been on the run:
– After more than 45 years, time is up for one of Japan's most-wanted criminals. NBC News reports Masaaki Osaka was arrested Wednesday in connection with the 1971 murder of a police officer; he's accused of killing officer Tsuneo Nakamura during a street protest in Tokyo in November of that year. A member of the Japan Revolutionary Communist League (JRCL), Osaka was protesting the continued American military presence in Okinawa, an island 400 miles south of the mainland. Authorities say Osaka, now 67, assaulted Nakamura with a steel pipe before lighting him on fire with a Molotov cocktail. The BBC reports Osaka was first arrested last month for allegedly obstructing police during a raid on an apartment in Hiroshima. The JRCL was reportedly using it as a hideout, and police were in search of someone other than Osaka. Although Osaka refused to give police his name, he was recognized, and his identity was eventually confirmed through DNA testing; the Japan Times explains a new warrant on the murder charge was served Wednesday. Osaka has since been moved from Hiroshima to Tokyo for further questioning, though the BBC says he has yet to say anything. Osaka's time as a fugitive—aided, authorities say, by the JRCL—was the longest among major-crime suspects being sought by Japan's National Police Agency.