SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police have arrested four Indian and Nepalese suspects for allegedly smearing spice powder in the face of a company president during a robbery earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 9).
At around 3:20 p.m. on March 14, Aman Sharma, a 31-year-old Indian national, and three accomplices allegedly smeared something like spice powder on the face of the 52-year-old male president of a staffing company as he walked along a city road in Yoshikawa City. They then tried to steal his bag containing about 7.8 million yen in cash.
The president suffered inflammation to his eyes in the incident. The injury took two weeks to heal, police said.
Police have not revealed whether any of the suspects admit to allegations of robbery and assault. However, the four suspects reportedly suggested they were all “short of money” at the time of the incident, reports TV Asahi (June 10).
On the day of the incident, the president was on his way to deliver wages to employees in Yoshikawa. Sharma and three other suspects were lying in wait for him. Wearing masks and black rubber gloves, the perpetrators approached him from behind and smeared the spice powder into his eyes.
After the company president called for help, the perpetrators fled the scene empty-handed. They surfaced as persons of interest in the case after an examination of security camera footage.
Sharma had worked at the staffing company on a contract basis. Police believe they suspects committed the crime because Sharma knew that the day of the incident was payday.
