OSAKA（TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested two men, including a member of a criminal syndicate, over the alleged theft of a vehicle containing more than 200 wristwatches in Osaka City earlier this year.
At around 8:45 a.m. on May 21, Shinya Onishi (52), a member of the Kodo-kai, an affiliate gang of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and Toshio Yoshikawa, 55, of no known occupation, allegedly stole a minivan loaded with 172 Rolex wristwatches on a street in Chuo Ward.
The watches have a value of around 280 million yen, police said, according to the Asahi Shimbun (Oct. 15).
Police did not reveal whether the suspects admit to the allegations.
Prior to the incident, the female delivery person, aged in her 60s, was on her way to deliver 203 wristwatches — including 172 Rolexes — to an authorized dealer after receiving them at a distribution center in Nishiyodogawa Ward.
To make another delivery, the driver left the minivan parked in Chuo Ward for about three minutes. When she returned, the vehicle was gone. She had left the vehicle with the key in the ignition and the doors unlocked.
The minican was found abandoned on a street in Naniwa Ward on the evening of the same day, but the watches and other items that had been loaded into it were gone.
Onishi and his accomplice became persons of interest after an examination of security camera footage taken in the area and other sources.
Police are investigating the possibility that other persons were involved in the crime.
