TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an elderly female pickpocket who routinely targets women out shopping, reports TV Asahi (Mar. 22).
At approximately 2:00 p.m. on March 18, Sato Kamiyama, 83, allegedly stole a wallet containing 4,000 yen from the bag of a 65-year-old woman at a product exhibition in a plaza at JR Ueno Station.
“If I see a wallet, I’ll take it,” the suspect is quoted by police. “I did it for the money.”
According to the Sankei Shimbun (Mar. 22), the suspect was nabbed red-handed with her right hand in the woman’s bag by police personnel dispatched to patrol high-traffic areas.
Within the metropolitan police, Kamiyama is notorious for targeting women who shop in the food sections in the basements of department stores. Going by the nickname “Old Lady Sato of the Department Store,” she is suspected to have been involved in approximately 20 other similar incidents.
