Police in Japan have arrested a YouTuber and former lawmaker over threats he allegedly made to celebrities. Yoshikazu Higashitani, known on YouTube as GaaSyy, is known for his celebrity gossip videos, writes “BBC".

Local media reported that he had returned to Japan from the UAE, two months after Tokyo police issued a warrant for his arrest. He is accused of threatening to slander an actor, entrepreneur and designer between February and August of last year. He is also suspected of obstructing the designer's business activities.

Higashitani repeatedly ignored requests to return to Japan and voluntarily surrender to police questioning. Police in Tokyo have been sending investigators to the UAE since May and have called on authorities there to extradite him to Japan.

Japan's foreign minister ordered him to return his passport after Tokyo police obtained an arrest warrant in March, but Higashitani said he had lost it. His passport expired the following month.

Earlier this year, he became the first lawmaker in Japanese history to be kicked out of parliament without entering it. Higashitani was one of two members elected by the Seijika-yoshi 48 party - a single-issue party calling for reform of Japan's public broadcaster.

During his seven months in office, he refused to leave his home in Dubai and did not attend a single legislative session.

At the time, Japanese media reported that he refused to attend parliament because he feared being arrested over fraud allegations and celebrity defamation claims. Lawmakers demanded that Higashitani personally apologize to them in the chamber for his absence, but he did not appear at the plenary session.

Instead, he announced on his YouTube channel that he was going to Turkey – and that he planned to donate his salary to Turkish earthquake relief. His absence angered the Senate – whose members voted unanimously to expel him.