TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three men suspected of operating within an anonymous tokuryu crime ring over an attempted robbery at a pawnshop in the Kabukicho nightlife district.
Naoki Tajima, 27, Reio Ishizawa, 21, and Shoya Hiyoshi, 21, are accused of breaking into the pawnshop on March 10.
According to police, the suspects assaulted a male employee and demanded, “Hand over the gold.” They then attempted to loot the store’s valuables.
The suspects ultimately fled the scene empty-handed. The employee was uninjured in the incident.
Police have not disclosed whether the suspects have admitted to the charges.
Investigators believe the trio are members of a tokuryu group, which is a fluid, anonymous crime syndicate often recruited via social media, after they were observed regrouping near the scene shortly after the botched heist.
Authorities are also aggressively investigating the trio’s potential link to a separate robbery that took place on the exact same day. In that incident, thieves successfully made off with approximately 1.1 million yen from a pawnshop in Katsushika Ward.
