Lineage 64 Leak: Gap Found in Entry Logs Points to an Outside Contract Worker's Access
The Third Appraisal Center disclosed interim findings on the 18th from its internal investigation into the previously reported leak of drift objects (first confirmed on the 12th, with a second missing item found during a shelf audit on the 15th). A review of entry and exit logs for the storage area found a gap — an inconsistency in the records — during the time window suspected for the leak, involving an outside contract worker who had temporary access. This points to one possible avenue for how the items left the building, though the specific worker involved, and whether they had any role at all, remain unconfirmed.
The Third Appraisal Center said its investigation, as of the 18th, had found a stretch of missing after-hours entry and exit records in the storage building's log system for a particular week. That week may overlap with the period suspected for the leak (not specified in earlier reports beyond sometime after the item's full appraisal was completed in 2019). Whether the gap resulted from equipment malfunction or deliberate deletion could not be determined; the center said it is preserving the logs and considering having them analyzed by a specialist outside agency.
Multiple outside contractors rotate through cleaning and facility-inspection work at the storage building. The center used only the phrase "a worker with temporary access during that period" and did not disclose a specific number of people or contractor names. Kaname Tsuyuki, chair of the Preliminary Survey Association, told this paper, "Cross-referencing overlapping records from multiple contractors over the same stretch takes longer than people assume. I'd ask that nobody rush to suspect a single individual." The center likewise stressed, "At this stage, we are not treating any specific individual as a suspect."
As previously reported, police are investigating the disappearance of the item in question — a leather pouch, Lineage 64, registered and fully appraised in 2019 — primarily as a suspected theft. They have not ruled out the possibility of a fault in the storage building's own locking equipment, and are also looking into the matter from the angle of property damage or administrative negligence. Asked whether the missing wooden stopper from Lineage 90, discovered during the 15th's shelf audit, might be connected to the same records gap, the center said, "We cannot say at this point."
As previously reported on the 15th, a staff member who took part in the shelf audit noted anonymously that "there was no rule requiring the shelf records to be periodically recounted." Today's gap in the entry logs may share the same root cause — a hole in the management system. On the 18th, the center said it is considering updating the entry-log system across the entire storage building and introducing a regular double-check process for its records. The previously reported proposal from the coalition of ceremonial organizations to revisit state ownership of such items has gained fresh momentum as a result.
One storage-building staff member (speaking anonymously) said, "As someone who's worked in this same building, it's painful having to doubt the entry logs themselves. But we've reached a point where being in pain isn't an excuse not to do it." According to this staff member, work has also begun cross-referencing the week's missing records against staff duty rosters from that period, compiling a list of employees and contract workers who may have been in the building during the relevant hours. The list itself, they said, is not yet at a stage where it can be shown externally.
Who removed the item, when, and by what route — the full picture remains unknown. The center repeated that "we are only at the stage of suspecting one possible avenue; nothing can be stated as confirmed." Efforts to trace the source of the listing photos found in the port city of Etsuyo continue, though no progress has been disclosed. The timing of the next report is undetermined.
