TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 24-year-old man who is suspected in dozens of bag-snatching incidents in the Kanto area, reports TV Asahi (Sept. 4).
On September 1, Mizuki Kurosaki allegedly grabbed a carrying case containing 44,000 yen from the front basket of a bicycle of an 87-year-old man as he pedaled home on a road in the Higashikanamachi of Katsushika Ward.
“I wanted money to play around,” the suspect was quoted by police in admitting to the allegations.
Kurosaki used a bicycle to approach the victim in carrying out the crime. He became a person of interest after an examination of security camera footage taken in the area.
Police are investigating whether Kurosaki was also behind more than 20 similar incidents that have taken place in nearby Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture and Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture.