CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested two organized crime members in the quick-strike theft of nearly two billion yen from ATMs nationwide last year, reports NHK (Sept. 7).
Police arrested Tomohiko Takagi, 26, and Hiroyuki Enomoto, 28, both members of the Kodo-kai, an affiliate gang of the Yamaguchi-gumi, for allegedly using forged credit cards in the withdrawal of 4.8 million yen from ATMs at convenience stores in five locations in Chiba on May 15, 2016.
Neither suspect has commented on the allegations, police said.
The suspects are considered a part of a gang of thieves that used similarly forged credit cards with data leaked from a bank in South Africa to steal approximately 1.86 billion yen from ATMs nationwide in 2.5 hours on that same day.
The gang targeted more than 1,400 ATMs in convenience stores in 17 administrative districts, including Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka, Fukuoka and Chiba, where the total amount obtained is about 200 million yen.
Police have previously arrested more than 170 persons in the case, including members of six criminal syndicates.
