TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 30-year-old employee of a hostess bar in the Ueno district for allegedly assaulting a customer and extorting over 1 million yen from him in a brutal “rip-off” scheme, reports TBS News (July 29).
Naoki Kikuchi is accused of robbery resulting in injury following an incident in May. According to police, Kikuchi and others beat a male customer in his 40s and forced him to take out a cash loan after he refused to pay an exorbitant bill.
The victim was initially lured into the kyabakura (hostess club) in Taito Ward by a tout promising a flat rate of 7,000 yen per person. However, after just one hour of drinking, he was handed a bill for approximately 80,000 yen.
When the man refused to pay, Kikuchi and his accomplices allegedly punched and kicked him in the face. They then escalated their demands, threatening the victim by saying, “With our overtime pay, you owe us about 1.4 million yen.”
The assailants then forced the battered man to borrow money from a consumer loan company, ultimately robbing him of approximately 1.02 million yen in cash.
Upon his arrest, Kikuchi admitted to the allegations.
Police also re-arrested five other individuals, including the bar’s management, on the same charges. The five were already in custody for the alleged false imprisonment and extortion of a separate customer.
The establishment has been the subject of numerous bottakuri (rip-off) complaints, and police are currently investigating the suspects for further crimes.
