Police in Tokyo are looking for three men who broke into an elderly woman’s home and stole nearly 2 million yen on Thursday.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. at a house in Koto Ward, Kyodo News reported. The woman, who is in her 70s, told police that the intruders threatened to kill her if she screamed. She said they wanted to know where she kept her money. The woman said they forced her to open a small safe. The trio stole nearly 2 million yen from the safe and then fled. Police said the woman was not harmed.
A neighbor who saw three men running from the house called police.
The victim said all three men appeared to be in their 20s. Two of them were dressed in black while the third one was dressed in a camouflage outfit and wearing a hood. All three wore face masks.
Police said other members of the woman’s family were out at the time.
© Japan Today
14 Comments
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garypen
One wonders how they knew she kept so much cash at home.
Eastman
at least they were masked so covid had no chance...
Spitfire
@garypen,
So many Japanese people keep big sums of cash at home.
602miko
They know their target is mostly old ppl.
3RENSHO
Was it another 'Roofy' crime, organized and controlled from a prison, overseas...?
one_consciousness
This level of crime is extremely rare in the country I live in and is a concerning trend in Japan.
konjo4u
A lot of money to the victim, and the criminals have it spent already. Let's hope they get caught, soon.
Larr Flint
As I said before robberies, shootings, killings etc.
Japan is on a slippery slope as people are in need of WELL PAID jobs.
You cant fix this by taking from the middle class and giving it to families with children, and elders.
Mr Kipling
Those small safes are really secure..... not. Put it in the bank, post office or a box labeled "nothing important definitely no cash".
Yrral
Mr Kipling bank are not safe,lots of upscale highrise apartment have 24/7 security,with restricted access,a good place to store your cash
garypen
Sure. Ni ju man. San ju man. How many folks are gonna have ni hyaku man? And, what are the chances of a home invasion crew just stumbling upon one of those?
No. Most likely, somebody knew she had a fat stack at home. It could have been one of those bogus "police" phone calls where they ask if you have large sums of cash at home. Or, maybe some no-good nephew or grandson. But, it's doubtful they just got lucky.
Mark
Losers and cowards.
Wesley
Perhaps because Japan is an earthquake prone country and ATM & E-payment machines may be done/broken during a disaster?
Also, an increasing number of scams involve electronic banking and hacking. So, maybe folks feel safer having cash.
I think the death sentence should be given to all those who rob the elderly.
3RENSHO
3 suspects have been arrested; they seem to be from Okinawa...one of them (22 years old) has a tattoo on his neck.