Two men arrested for snatching a purse from a 51-year-old woman in Chiba city have admitted to at least 50 such incidents in Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures, police said Wednesday.
According to police, last December, Masafumi Uehara, 21, and Hayato Kaneda, also 21, rode up on a stolen motorbike behind a woman walking home and snatched her handbag containing about 30,000 yen, NTV reported.
Police said they identified the men through street surveillance camera footage.
After his arrest, Uehara was quoted by police as saying he and his friend needed money for living expenses and that they had carried out 50 similar thefts since November, netting around 3 million yen.
© Japan Today
9 Comments
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Bartholomew Harte
They should be Caned in public & made to work off the stolen money-plenty of toilets need a scrubbing daily!
Mocheake
Caning is a great idea! Need to put that into use in the U.S. too. Jail hardens most incarcerated people and some wear it like a badge of honor when they get out. A fine or probation isn't as effective. I think the threat of public caning - real pain involved - would be a serious deterrent to many.
Wc626
Jeez, they were both 21. No doubt living with parents and prob milking them too. Kudos to the police who finally nabbed these punks.
Serrano
Hey,living costs are sky-high in Japan! These poor guys needed supplemental income! It must be humiliating for these poor guys to have been caught stealing! LOL!
WilliB
"Living expenses" = pachinko, booze, and pink parlours?
tallpinedog
Why would they admit to 50 thefts?
Rik314
3,000,000 since November "for living expenses" as a 21-year old???!!! Read gambling, drinking, whoring. They should put them in a room with all the obatalians they ripped off.
Asakaze
Good work, Chiba cops!
Commodore Shmidlap (Retired)
What the heck? They couldn't find copies of Domo or Town Work?