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Kanagawa: Man, 39, nabbed in ¥1.8 billion ATM heist

Shunsuke Muto
Shunsuke Muto (Twitter)

KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a 39-year-old man over the quick-strike theft of nearly two billion yen from ATMs nationwide two years ago, reports NHK (Sept. 7).

On Wednesday, police arrested Shunsuke Muto, a resident of Tokyo’s Koto Ward, for allegedly instructing another man, 31, to use forged credit cards in the withdrawal of 1.9 million yen from ATMs at convenience stores in Yamato City on the morning of May 15, 2016.

Muto, who has been accused of theft, told police he did not wish to discuss the matter, according to the Yamato Police Station.

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, OsakaFukuoka and Chiba.

In the case involving Muto, he is believed to have instructed a team of six persons who targeted ATMs in Yamato and Yokohama cities in stealing a total of 31.7 million yen, police said.

Police have previously arrested more than 170 persons in the case, including members of six criminal syndicates.

Kanto Rengo

On Tuesday, Fukuoka Prefectural Police arrested a former member of a bosozoku motorcycle gang for participating in the same crime.

According to Kanagawa Prefectural Police, Yusuke Saito, a former member of Kanto Rengo, which broke up in 2003, participated with 10 persons, including members of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi criminal syndicate, in fraudulently withdrawing 43.8 million yen from ATM machines in 43 convenience stores in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Saito lives in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward. According to police, the suspect oversaw operations of the crime in Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures.