Two men this morning forced their way into a Kitakyushu residence belonging to an elderly man and stole 20 million yen in cash on Thursday morning, police said.
According to police, the two men broke into the home of a 78-year-old construction company manager in Wakamatsu Ward at around 2 a.m., Fuji TV reported. They woke the man up and threatened to kill him, police said. The pair punched the man in the face, bound his arms and legs with adhesive tape, and then stole 20 million yen from his safe.
One of the men was described as being between 35 and 40 years of age and of stocky build. The other was described as slim and aged between 20 and 30. According to police, both men were wearing ski masks to hide their identities.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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JoeBigs
Inside job.
Meguroman
Why in the world did he have that much cash in his house?
spudman
Yakuza job, the old fella would have been in their ring of acquaintances.
marcels
If you open your mouth too much you let the flies in ,that,s exactly what happened!! Proabably !!
LiveInTokyo
Got to agree with marcels ... it ain't a secret if two people know about it.
Scrote
I hope he paid the required taxes on that money, or was it used for bribes?
TokyoGas
The old guy must have been chatting a bit too much about his home assets.
cyclemate
I really like your confidence, Marcels. "that,s exactly what happened! Proabably! "
jessebaybay
The amount of cash kept in japanese homes is just crazy. It always takes me by surprise. I guess its to be expected in a mostly cash based society though. The largets amount of money any one I have known to have lying around the house was about 80,000 dollars. Not to mention he was a very successful business man. I guess the japanese have really good saving capabilities. Something to be admired.
Alan
This sounds like a mistranslation for keieisha, which is closer in meaning to "owner." It's seems unlikely that someone employed as a manager would be that old or have that much cash lying around.
ogtob
I have no idea why there was so much money at home in this case but it is true that people who are avoiding taxes often tend to hold lots of cash rather than keep it in the bank.
nath
Seems lots of reports recently about crimes in Kitakyushu. is there some kind of gang war going on there?
Ramzel
Very good point, Alan. Must be the owner. However, I've heard of a case where a cab driver had like 60,000,000JPY in his closet. If you save most of your money (tiny apartment, don't go out much, no travel, etc) for 40 years, most people can amass such an amount.
smithinjapan
Obviously these guys KNEW the old man had a lot of money he kept at home, which means he probably blabbed about it to someone at some point. At least they didn't kill him.
ItsMe
Why cry if a thief stole kick-backs from a dirty construction manager? There really is no other explanation for why someone in construction would keep 20 million stashed under their mattress, or why some shady folks would even know about this money...
nath
Construction company manager? Not the owner?That manager must have been getting a real good salary or maybe he did a little skimming and someone found out. On the other hand, maybe it was the company bonus to the employee. Who knows?