TOKYO (TR) – To be filed under: Drill your own hole.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Russian national who is suspected of drilling a hole in the wall of a luxury goods store in the Ginza district last month in order to steal watches, reports the Aashi Shimbun (Dec. 11).
At around 2:30 a.m. on November 17, Roman Kotelnikov, an interior decorator, allegedly drilled two holes into the wall of the store and reached through the openings in order to steal 14 high-end watches by such makers as Rolex and Omega.
The stolen merchandise has a retail value of a total of 6.06 million yen, the Chuo Police Station said.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of theft and causing property damage, Kotelnikov said, “I can’t say anything right now.”
The caper took a total of about two hours. Based on security camera footage, Kotelnikov entered a gap of about 80 centimeters between the store and the building next door. He then drilled the two holes with tools and reached into a shelf inside the store to steal the watches.
Police have retrieved two of the 14 watches. However, the whereabouts of the other 12 are not known.
Since this method is unconventional, investigators to it as a “DIY theft.”
