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Police have arrested a couple in Saitama for allegedly using their children to steal goods from an electronics store.
According to police, the couple's daughter, aged 8, and son, aged 5, were caught on CCTV cameras stealing goods, including a video recorder and an LCD TV, from electronic goods stores in Warabi on July 14 and 15.
TBS reported Friday that police later analyzed the security footage and arrested the children's 26-year-old mother and her 25-year-old partner, both living in Kawaguchi, for coercing their children to steal the items.
Police say the pair has confessed to using the children to commit thefts. They were quoted by police as saying: "Times were tough. We sold the goods for cash."
The items stolen were worth a total of around 200,000 yen, TBS reported.
© Japan Today
19 Comments
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mataka
I wonder how such young kids managed to steal an LCD TV.
SenseNotSoCommon
I can just picture an 8 yr old with a TV.
What the Dickens?
wavelength
I'm really getting tired of "saitama" comments, because I live in Saitama, and I don't see any of this around where I live. Saitama is a big place with wonderful, caring people. You are looking at a sample of 4 people and generalizing and it's unfair to all of us who live there.
BTW, has it occurred to anyone that a small LCD TV can be stolen, be it Tokyo, Kanagawa, or Saitama, by a small child? I love my neighborhood...I would choose Saitama over Tokyo any day because of its people, and its buildings and surroundings. Caring next door neighbors and concerned communities all around me!!! Grow up, you 1 word posters!!
Straight Shooter
Moderator - When referring to husbands/ wives or boyfriends/girlfriends, could JT kindly use gender-specific words, instead of the indistinct, non-judgmental term "partner"?
DudeDeuce
If you think Saitama is dangerous, do this experiment:
Go to Saitama for 1 day and come back here later talking about your horror stories and how you barely escaped with your life.........
Devie Ikesue
8 yrs. With LCD TV unbelievable
Heza!
It doesnt really matter where this is, its just sad that the parents were making their children become thieves. i hope the children are in a better situation...
ikkoikki
Let the usual comments about Saitama commence
slumdog
A quick look at the headlines in today's newspaper or even Japan Today proves this incorrect.
nath
They'll dye their hair orange, indulge in petty crime and start chain-smoking marlboros before they're 15.
ka_chan
Saitama....
TokyoGas
A kid stealing an LCD TV?? wow.
lucabrasi
Very sad, but this is the future under Abe and his "screw the poor, greed is good," policies. I lived through Thatcherism as a kid; never really expected to be repeating the process as an adult : (
Moderator
Back on topic please.
MarkG
A form of child abuse. What kind of adults will these children be with these parents?
Scnadal.Lova
why bring the kids down with you to your level.
AramaTaihenNoYouDidnt
Kids Exploitation in Saitama...
smithinjapan
DudeDeuce: "Go to Saitama for 1 day and come back here later talking about your horror stories and how you barely escaped with your life........."
As opposed to just being able to sit here and point out the fact that most news stories, especially those involving abuse of children, come out of Saitama?
roughneck
A plot for a new TV crime series...Saitama Kids!