KANAGAWA (TR) – Over the past decade, members of musical groups The Lowbrows and Boom Boom Satellites have promoted Seven Stars cigarettes, the Japan Tobacco brand famous for its pioneering charcoal filter.
“The men who reverberate with Seven Stars,” the ad copy reads.
But if the recent arrest of a male truck driver living in Odawara City is anything to go by, the company might want to consider inserting “burglarize” into an upcoming campaign.
On Thursday, police accused the unnamed truck driver, 43, of trespassing and theft. He is suspected in nearly 200 burglaries, reports the Kanagawa Shimbun (April 21).
“I spent the money on gambling”
Last October 14, the suspect allegedly broke into the residence of a 65-year-old female corporate executive in Hadano City.
He then stole 5,300 yen in cash and three items, including a brooch, valued at around 150,000 yen.
“I spent the money on gambling and wanted to cover living expenses,” the suspect told the Odawara Police Station in admitting to the allegations.
Police believe that the suspect was behind a total of 188 similar capers in the western part of the prefecture.
The arrest is the second for the suspect. In February, police accused him of breaking into a residence in Odawara.
Police linked the suspect to the incidents after cigarette butts of the same brand were found at many of the crime scenes. Investigators had labeled him the “Seven Stars Guy” prior to his first arrest.
