TOKYO, Oct. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan has decided to hand over to the United States a Japanese man and woman charged with defrauding US aid organizations of a total of 14,500 US dollars by falsely claiming they were victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

    According to Mainichi Shimbun, unemployed Hidetoshi Cho, 47, and company executive Toshiko Yamasaki, 45, both from Tokyo, were already indicted by US authorities on fraud charges.

    The Tokyo High Court has judged that the Japanese government can legally hand over the two people, who have been detained by Japanese authorities, in line with a bilateral extradition treaty at the behest of the United States, the daily said.

    Cho and Yamasaki are likely to be turned over to the United States possibly by the end of this month on an order by Justice Minister Chieko Nono.

    Cho and Yamasaki are accused of swindling checks worth a total of 14,500 US dollars out of organizations including the US Red Cross even though they suffered no damage in the incident, the newspaper said.

    The two are also alleged to have attempted to defraud the US government of one million dollars by trying to take out a post-disaster loan in that amount. The US government did not approve their application for the loan, it said. Enditem