TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have made to more arrests in the quick-strike theft of nearly two billion yen from ATMs nationwide last year, reports Nippon News Network (Jan. 24).
Police arrested Takeshi Honma, 51, and Yuya Nagaoka, 26, for allegedly using forged credit cards in the withdrawal of 300,000 yen from an ATM at a convenience store in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture on May 15.
Both suspects, who are also under investigation in the illegal withdrawal of at least one million yen from another ATM in Ichihara, admit to the allegations.
The two suspects are 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.
Thus far, law enforcement has arrested multiple persons in the case, including organized crime members.