TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested the leader of a group calling itself “Team Ninja” over the alleged theft of copper wire from a construction site. Police believe the ring was behind dozens of similar crimes, reports NHK (Apr. 28).
In January, Fumiya Iijima, 23, is alleged to have worked with two accomplices to sneak into a construction site for a new apartment building in Adachi Ward and steal 18 copper cables worth 260,000 yen.
Iijima and his accomplices took the stolen copper wire to a buyer in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture on the same day and sold it, police said.
Iijima is believed to be the leader of a local group calling itself Team Ninja. He created a group on the chat app Line with that same name.
Three other people have already been arrested and indicted in the case.
The group targeted construction sites that had unused copper cables. Police suspect the group was behind about 100 other thefts of copper wire worth around 25 million yen.
