SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police have arrested a staff member at the House of Councillors who is suspected of stealing from sleeping commuters aboard the JR Keihin Tohoku Line, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 3).
At around 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, Tomohisa Ishikawa, a 26-year-old resident of Saitma City, allegedly swiped a bag containing 13,000 yen in cash from a male company employee, 54, as he slept inside a train stopped at Minami-Urawa Station.
“I was carrying another person’s bag, but I don’t know why,” the suspect was quoted by police in denying the allegations.
According to police, an officer on patrol took Ishikawa, who was wearing a knit cap and breathing mask, in for questioning after seeing him steal the bag from the luggage rack above the sleeping man.
Police are now investigating whether Ishikawa was also behind 10 similar thefts that took place inside trains in October.
