TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested four individuals for allegedly attempting to rob a man of 190 million yen using pepper spray in a parking lot at Haneda International Airport earlier this year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (July 21).
According to police, the suspects include Yoshito Koyama, 20, Hizuki Sugamori, 22, a 16-year-old boy and one other man in his 20s.
At around 12:10 a.m. on January 30, the group targeted a man in his 50s at the airport’s Terminal 3 parking lot. The victim was standing beside his vehicle, transferring bags of cash into a suitcase, when the suspects approached.
“What are you doing?” the men demanded before spraying tear gas directly into the victim’s face and smashing his car mirror with a police-style baton. However, the heist was abruptly thwarted when the suspects realized several other men were sitting inside the victim’s vehicle, prompting the gang to flee the scene empty-handed.
Police have not disclosed whether Koyama and his accomplices have admitted to the allegations.
Premeditated
Investigators revealed the crime was highly premeditated. The crew had allegedly obtained prior information about the massive cash transport, tailing the target’s vehicle to the airport and keeping tabs on its model, license plate, and exact parking location.
Their getaway car was later found abandoned on a riverbed in Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture. In a desperate bid to destroy evidence, the suspects had removed the license plates and coated the interior of the vehicle with fire extinguisher powder.
Just minutes before the pepper-spray attack, the four suspects attempted to snatch a bag from a different man in his 20s in the same parking lot. Police believe they mistakenly thought that bag contained the targeted cash. The four were previously arrested for this initial attempted theft.
The botched robbery may be tied to a much larger underworld operation. Just two hours and 40 minutes prior to the Haneda incident, a suitcase containing a staggering 420 million yen was stolen on a street in Ueno. Several yakuza members have already been indicted for that theft, and police are currently investigating a potential link between the two massive heists.
