TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three men over the alleged robbery of a pachinko parlor in the town of Mizuho earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 13).
At around 11:10 p.m. on March 17, two of the suspects allegedly broke into a shop attached to the parlor that redeems playing balls for cash and prizes and thrust a knife in front of male and female employees.
“Hand over the money or we’ll kill you,” one of them reportedly threatened. The pair then fled the scene with 7.73 million yen in cash from a safe.
According to police, Kohei Hayakawa, a 20-year-old resident of Ome City, ordered the heist. He has declined to comment on the case.
One of the other suspects is 24-year-old Daiki Morito, who admits to the allegations. The third suspect, who was a youth at the time, also admits to the charges, police said.
Hayakawa, Morito and another youth have already been prosecuted over the alleged attempted robbery of another parlor in Mizuho later in April.
In that case, the perpetrators fled empty-handed after a male employee triggered a security system. However, the employee was slashed in the middle finger of his right hand during the incident.
