crime

Man arrested for Ginza heist in April also charged with attempted robbery of 82-year-old woman

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An unemployed man under arrest with two others for stealing a bag containing cash in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district in April has also been charged with the attempted robbery of an 82-year-old woman in her home in Nerima Ward, police said Sunday.

According to police, Okito Ogasawara, 20, and Kazuki Miyauchi, 21, forcibly entered the woman’s house at around 1 a.m. on April 21, threatened her with a knife and demanded money, Sankei Shimbun reported. A third suspect, So Hitayama, 23, waited outside in a car. The woman was able to escape by running out the back door and the suspects also fled.

Police said Ogasawara and Miyauchi have admitted to the charge, while Hirayama said he was just waiting in the car. Ogasawara was quoted as saying he can’t remember where he was that day.

Ogasawara was seen in street surveillance camera footage outside the woman's home.

Later that same day, at around 1:30 p.m., police said Ogasawara, a 16-year-old high school student and a third man, Yuta Kurata, 23, snatched a bag from a man on a Ginza street. Ogasawara and Kurata have denied that charge but the boy, who attended a public high school in Chiba Prefecture, has admitted to the charge.

In the Ginza case, police said they identified the suspects from security camera footage taken around the incident site.

The victim was carrying the cash shortly after selling 15 kilograms of gold bullion at a nearby shop.

The trio made off with only 40 million yen of the cash in the bag as they dropped some 32 million yen at the site. Police said Ogasawara and Kurata used to be in the same motorcycle gang and believe they lured the boy into joining the heist.

The trio each had separate roles in the robbery, according to the police. While the boy hurled himself at the man, Ogasawara snatched the bag and Kurata stood by on a motorcycle so they could make their getaway.

© Japan Today/Kyodo

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

4 Comments
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How embarrassing, you can't even Rob 82-year-old woman, what a bunch of losers.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Two points that baffle me: how can J-police identify an anonymous person by camera surveillance, based on images of the face? And "only" 40 miliion?? It's more than half of the 72 million robbed. And it's a lot of money

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I believe they made their famous heist by sheer luck.

Their lack of success classify them in the learning stage at the thief school street academy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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