Lineage 64 Leak: Investigation Narrows to One Contract Worker's Access Pattern; Involvement Still Unconfirmed
In the case of the leaked leather pouch (Lineage 64) from the Third Appraisal Center's storage building, the internal investigation into the previously reported gap in entry logs (the 18th) has narrowed the list of outside contract workers present during the affected week from several to one, it was learned on the 23rd. The center says the worker's actual involvement remains unconfirmed and has not disclosed identifying details.
As previously reported, a leather pouch belonging to Lineage 64, fully appraised back in 2019, went missing from a shelf in the Third Appraisal Center's storage building and was later spotted in listing photos from an online marketplace in an overseas port city. Since the leak was discovered on the 12th, the case has moved through an emergency inspection of roughly 4,200 stored items on the 15th and the discovery, on the 18th, of a week-long gap in the building's entry logs pointing toward outside contract workers.
The center says that of the five contract workers initially found to have had recorded access to the storage building's surroundings during the gap period, cross-checking of shift schedules against security logs has, as of the 23rd, narrowed the group to one. A center representative stressed: "This narrowing reflects recorded presence alone. It does not establish that this one worker was involved in the leak."
Kaname Tsuyuki, 56, a former appraisal assistant at the center and now head of the industry group Preliminary Survey Association, responded to news of the narrowing by repeating his earlier caution: "If word spreads that it's down to one person, that person's life could be irreversibly affected before anything is proven. The record only shows someone was present — not that they did anything." Tsuyuki voiced similar concerns about trust in the industry when the leak first came to light on the 12th, and has consistently urged against rushing to identify a suspect.
Police continue investigating on both theft and property-damage grounds, as previously reported, and declined on the 23rd to say whether the worker in question had been questioned, citing the ongoing investigation. The center maintains its plan to announce, between late October and November, both a review of its contract-worker arrangements and improvements to the storage building's overall management.
Separately, as previously reported on the 19th, the same records review turned up a misfiled box of measurement records from the 2003 Bayside Nine-Fog Incident, which had sat on the wrong shelf for 23 years. The center says the two matters surfaced through the same review process but have different causes, and nothing currently links them.
The timing, route and parties involved in the Lineage 64 leak remain, once again, unresolved. The center says it is "considering" whether to carry out an additional spot-check across all storage shelves.
