CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested a Chinese national suspected of masterminding a string of sophisticated locker thefts targeting hot spring facilities across the Kanto region, reports Chiba TV (Nov. 12).
Li Zhi Zhang, an unemployed Chinese national, was taken into custody on November 11 on suspicion of trespassing. Police allege that in September, Zhang conspired with accomplices to infiltrate a Chiba super sento with the intent of looting valuables from changing room lockers.
Investigators believe Zhang acted as the “handler” for a criminal cell, using encrypted SNS chats to direct multiple perpetrators. An 18-year-old Chinese national was previously arrested in October for attempting to use duplicate keys to break into facility lockers.
Since June 2026, nearly 100 thefts have been reported at bathhouses throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area. In a chillingly methodical twist, thieves have been using duplicate keys to access lockers, specifically targeting credit cards and swapping out their IC chips.
The stolen chips have since been traced to fraudulent purchases totaling several million yen in Hong Kong, Europe, and North America.
Despite the mounting evidence, Zhang has denied the allegations, telling investigators, “I know nothing about it.”
Chiba police suspect the arrests have exposed only the tip of the iceberg of a larger, internationally active Chinese criminal organization. Authorities are now working to dismantle the group’s network and track the movement of the illicitly obtained funds.
