A 62-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of stealing cash from a parked taxi in a matter of mere seconds in Sapporo, police said Thursday. The theft occurred just past 9 a.m. on August 27 in Chuo Ward’s Odori Park, Fuji TV reported.
According to police, the taxi driver parked his vehicle in order to use a public toilet. He did not lock the doors when he got out of the taxi. Police said the suspect, Mikio Tanaka, 62, came along, saw the driver leave the taxi and stole a bag containing 7,400 yen in cash and a briefcase in just 11 seconds.
Tanaka, who claims he has no residence, was arrested Thursday. Similar incidents have been occurring within the vicinity of the crime scene, and police are questioning Tanaka about those thefts as well.
Footage of the theft was captured by the camera mounted on the dashboard of the taxi.
© Japan Today
11 Comments
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Michael Jackson
HTF do they know it was 11 seconds? That's BS. They should have just said "mere seconds".
DNALeri
Not locking the doors when you leave the car and can't see it, even for a short time, is not very smart.
Disillusioned
Watch the video!
DaDude
I am not sure if it is just me but if I have cash in the car, I lock the door. Anyone else?
englishman81
I never leave cash, bags or anything else in my car.
Nessie
I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for drivers who park illegally, especially smack in the middle of downtown.
commanteer
Give him a break. He needed a toilet, there was almost no traffic and the road was plenty wide. Hard enough for a cabbie to make a living.... On top of which he has the bad luck to have one the few such thieves in Japan being the only person around at exactly that moment.
Kenji Fujimori
Cool music on that video clip
Michael Jackson
I really ought to read the entire article before making a comment.
stormcrow
The mother of one of my students was robbed in a similar manner. She had parked in the driveway of her friend and left her doors unlocked. When she came out a minute or two later, her bag was gone along with her wallet and all of her cards. She immediately began the process of canceling her cards, but it was too late. The thief knew what he/she had and must have raced off to the nearest cash machine and had withdrawn a few million yen.