Alexandria, Virginia - A Japanese man who served nearly 20 years in federal prison for his participation in a 1986 rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, was removed from the United States Thursday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Tsutomu Shirosaki, 67, was convicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in February 1998 of assault with intent to murder, attempted destruction of buildings, attempted murder of internationally protected persons and violent attack on official premises of internationally protected persons. According to court documents, Shirosaki participated in the May 1986 attack on the U.S. and Japanese embassies in Jakarta, during which three homemade rockets were fired and a car bomb was set off outside a building housing Canada’s diplomatic mission. Shirosaki participated in the attack as a member of the Japanese Red Army.

ERO officers took Shirosaki into immigration custody in January following his release from federal prison in Yazoo City, Miss.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will continue to focus its removal resources on violent criminals and other high-priority aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities," said ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña.

Shirosaki was removed Thursday by ERO officers accompanied by Japanese National Police officers via commercial aircraft from the Alexandria International Airport in Alexandria to Narita Airport in Tokyo. ERO officers transferred Shirosaki into Japanese law enforcement custody upon arrival in the country Friday where he faces additional felony prosecution.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 720 foreign fugitives from the United States who were being sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of International Affairs, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.

In fiscal year 2014, ERO removed 315,943 individuals from the United States. In addition to convicted criminals, the agency's enforcement priorities include those apprehended while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States, illegal re-entrants – individuals who returned to the United States after being previously removed by ICE – and immigration fugitives. In fiscal year 2014, 98 percent of ICE removals met these priorities.