Police said Friday they have arrested a former executive for a bridal diamond retailer for allegedly stealing diamonds worth over 100 million yen.
According to police, the man, who has been named as 39-year-old Hiroshi Amemiya, worked at the Ginza branch of Cima jewelers, TBS reported. Police say Amemiya has confessed to stealing 74 diamonds, which had been stored in a safe, and to selling them at a pawn shop. The diamonds had a combined value of around 109 million yen.
In an attempt to escape detection, police say Amemiya replaced the stones with aromatic crystals. However, his subterfuge was detected when another employee opened the safe to carry out a inventory check on Thursday.
During police questioning, Amemiya was reported as saying that he gambled the money away "on horses and stuff," TBS reported.
© Japan Today
20 Comments
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David Wagner
What an idiot....He could have invested it instead in an insolvent country or bank......
Okinawamike
....He could have invested it instead in an insolvent country or bank
Maybe he did and will wait out the jail time.
gambled the money away “on horses and stuff,” would be hard to track, get it track?
sandiegoluv
What a moron. Goes and blows the money on horses and gambling. If I were him I would have done the smart thing and gone to another country to live. Changed my name and played it low key. Open up a small business, hire local employees and be done with the whole rat race. You wouldn't catch me.
This guy is just so damn dumb.
@Okinawa Yes, we get the word play. Good one.
Mirai Hayashi
How could you gamble away 109 million yen...this guy had some SERIOUS gambling issues to able to do that.
Alphaape
All the cops need to do is pull the financial records for some of the hostess bars in the area. Since he is caught now, some of them will probably see a decrease in business. Those are the places where they then need to start looking into.
Clemens Simon
Okay... Okay... Okay! I'm Leo Getz, and whatever you want, Leo gets. Get it? Get It?
nath
Pendejo!! Sorry! Let me try again, what a bloody fool!! Horses and stuff?? Sounds like my Romanian friend's Japanese husband!!!
nath
But this terrible vice, addiction can happen to anybody just ask my crazy Chinese friend! Good on the police of Taukiji!! They cover Ginza!!
REMzzz
He should have switched them for the so-called "bath salts", don't you think? ;P
Psychosis would have made for a much more interesting story.
keika1628
and the pawn shop is guilty of what ?
Herve Nmn L'Eisa
The money could very well be stashed somewhere. Should this thief's word about gambling be believed?
Clemens Simon
Yes, correct. When they were still sitting In the safe ready to be sold for that kinda amount.
I suppose he only got about a quarter to a third of that amount from the pawn shop, though.
Kyle Sakic
David wagner. If you invested 109mil yen in an offshore accounty wouldn't you say you bet it all on horses n stuff?
seesaw1
Silly man! and silly Management too....!.
aussiemac
maybe he invested the money offshore and told cops he gambled it
mekki
109 million was the retail value, I wonder if he got even half of that from the pawn shop.
LostinNagoya
This reminds me of "Legal Tender" by The B52's. Laughable.
Clemens Simon
... is pretty much what I posted.
danalawton1@yahoo.com
I've seen this type of crime happen first hand twice myself and both times the culprit was a hardcore gambler. Companies that have large amounts of cash, securities or just anything of high value should be screening employees before they allow them access to the "goods".
Fadamor
"Time for an inventory check... PHEW! This safe REEKS! Who dumped a bottle-full of Febreze® in here?! Waiiiiit a minute!..."