TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese taxi driver who got a sexual thrill out of watching women desperate to urinate has been arrested for allegedly feeding passengers snacks laced with diuretics, police said on Thursday.

Toshihiko Nishi, 41, lured women into long rides in his cab, in at least one case by offering a half-price fare, and then plied them with crackers covered in a substance that would make them want to go to the toilet.

Police who raided the man's home told AFP they found videos that Nishi said were from a security camera inside the cab and showed around 50 women wetting themselves on his back seat.

One alleged victim told police she had got into Nishi's taxi in Osaka, western Japan, in October last year, and been given a small paper cup containing water biscuits.

A short time after eating the snack, she began to need the toilet. But when she told the driver to let her out of the car so she could relieve herself, he refused and instead passed back an absorbent sheet on which he encouraged her to urinate.

"I got excited by watching women trying to withstand the urge to urinate," the driver told investigators, adding he had "bought diuretics through the Internet, and crushed them to mix with crackers."

Nishi has been arrested on suspicion of committing a violent act, a police officer said.