Police in Tokyo have arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of stealing a tote bag containing gold bars and other items from a man walking in Tokyo's Shinjuku district in December.
According to police, Genki Takahashi, riding a motorcycle, approached a man in his 30s from behind, snatched his tote bag and sped away, TV Asahi reported.
The bag was a luxury brand and the value of the bag and stolen items, including the gold bars and gift certificates, totaled more than 850,000 yen.
Police said they traced Takahashi through earphones in the stolen bag.
Police said Takahashi, who lives in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, has admitted to 10 similar thefts in Tokyo and Chiba and quoted him as saying,"I targeted people who were walking and had a bag in their hands, regardless of gender." He told police he used the money for living and entertainment expenses.
Six of the thefts occurred on five consecutive days in Tokyo from Dec 4-9, netting the thief about 900,000 yen, police said.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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Blacklabel
Yep I always carry my gold bars around in a tote bag while walking around Shinjuku.
the “luxury brand” bag -and- the gold barS were only worth 850,000 yen?
James
Phew thought it was just me and the guy who got robbed... but seems more common than I thought.
Legrande
saying,"I targeted people who were walking and had a bag in their hands, regardless of gender."
Even criminals becoming woke these days
DenTok2009
Gold bars are incredibly heavy! A standard gold bar, often referred to as a "Good Delivery" bar, weighs around 12.4 kilograms (27.4 pounds). Even smaller bars can be surprisingly dense because gold is one of the heaviest metals.
If someone was carrying a tote bag with multiple gold bars, it would be extremely heavy—probably not the easiest thing to steal and run off with! Maybe the bars were smaller ones, but still, the weight would add up quickly. That’s wild someone would try that!
James
Yes but if you do the math 1 XAU Gold Ounce is 432,075 yen and he stated 850,000 yen. So that's what 2 ounces of gold which is about 56g not that heavy.
Blacklabel
Yeah the value amount isn’t enough to be “bars” of gold. Must be a wacky translation.
plus he said the value of his luxury bag, so he had 1-1.5 ounces of gold at most.
this guy had less gold than I wear around my neck.
At least they finally caught the thief through tracking dome headphones.
Five Families
@black.
LOL you beat me to it. Righ. Like who does that?
Sid
This is why I don't buy bitcoin - I might be walking around with a bag of them and some guy will just grab them. The ones I was offered weren't very heavy though and it made me wonder if they were genuine.
Brian Wheway
Poor journalism from JN this morning! Tut Tut! The new article never told us what karat the gold is 9, 14, or 22 karat gold it's so important
shogun36
Gold bars, yes. Who DOESN'T carry gold bars in tote bags these days?
Gift certificates? Now I know this story is fake. No one buys gift certificates in 2025.
リッチ
They talking about the small gold bar like flakes from pachinko machines?
WoodyLee
Is this suppose to be a JOKE?? or is it just me?
Hercolobus
One year behind bars for each is fair punishment.
JeffLee
The lead should read: "Police have arrested a man who has admitted to stealing handbags from 10 pedestrians in Tokyo."
The case that the article focusese on is only one of 10 alleged thefts.
travelbangaijin
Robin Hood is rolling in his grave...
garypen
I think both "gold bars" and "tote bag" are probably mistranslations of "gold ingots" and "shoulder bag".