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Tokyo cops arrest yakuza boss in ¥1.8 billion ATM heist

Tokyo police have arrested a Yamaguchi-gumi gang member as a part of an investigation into the theft of 1.6 billion yen from convenience store ATMs last year
Tokyo police have arrested a Yamaguchi-gumi gang member as a part of an investigation into the theft of 1.6 billion yen from convenience store ATMs last year

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a boss of an organized crime group affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi in the quick-strike theft of nearly two billion yen from ATMs nationwide last year, reports TBS News (Mar. 16).

Police arrested Fumio Izumi, the 49-year-old boss of the Izumi-gumi, for allegedly working with at least one associate in using forged credit cards in the withdrawal of 3.5 million yen from ATMs at convenience stores in Shibuya Ward and other locations on May 15.

The suspect is a part of a gang of thieves that used similarly forged credit cards with data leaked from a bank in South Africa to steal approximately 1.86 billion yen from ATMs nationwide in 2.5 hours on that same day.

The gang targeted more than 1,400 ATMs in convenience stores in 17 administrative districts, including Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka.

Police had previously arrested more than a dozen persons in the case, including Koki Yoshida, a 54-year-old upper-level member of the Yamaguchi-gumi. Izumi and Yoshida are believed to have worked together in pulling off the crime.