HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police have arrested an elderly man for the theft of packages of grilled eel from a supermarket in Nishinomiya City, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 18).
At 6:55 p.m. on Sunday, police caught the man, 83, with eight packages of unagi no kabayaki, or grilled eel, valued at 17,000 yen inside Coop Kotoen.
The suspect admits to the allegations. “I love unagi,” he is quoted by officers from the Nishinomiya Police Station. “To pay money is bothersome.”
About one hour before the suspect’s apprehension, police had been tipped off by a manager at the store about 30 missing unagi packages. An examination of security camera footage showed the man arriving at the store several times that same day. Police are now questioning the man over the other missing packages.