A 44-year-old man in Shimane Prefecture has been arrested after he pretended to have contracted the novel coronavirus and threatened to spread it at a local train station, NHK reported.

The man, identified as Hitoshi Karino, allegedly told employees at JR Kisuki Station in the city of Unnan on Friday afternoon that he would spread the virus if they come within a 1-meter radius of him, the report said.

Karino also reportedly took issue with the fact that an information center within the station was closing for the day, saying, “is this closed because I’m infected with the coronavirus?” He made a show of coughing as he made these remarks, and was arrested on charges of fraudulently obstructing train station employees from performing their duties, the broadcaster said.