Police investigators in Japan used wiretapping to make 70 arrests last year in 22 cases involving crimes such as the drug trade and homicide.

Justice Minister Koizumi Ryuji informed the Cabinet on Tuesday that investigators across Japan wiretapped cell phone conversations 12,899 times in 2023.

The wiretapping law in Japan allows authorities to intercept communications in investigations of organized crime only when it's proven difficult to solve the crimes through other methods.

The number of interceptions was the second highest since the law went into effect in 2000. The government is expected to brief the Diet about the situation, as is required every year.