TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have issued a high-level alert following a string of more than 10 sophisticated burglaries in the capital this year.
They are all believed to have been carried out by organized crime syndicates operating out of Aichi Prefecture, reports TBS News (Nov. 13).
Investigators say the groups are traveling to Tokyo in stolen vehicles, using forged license plates to evade detection, before fleeing back to Aichi after their hits.
The most brazen of the incidents occurred in April, when thieves breached a rental safe facility in Hachioji City, making off with over 400 million yen in cash.
Authorities have since linked a similar break-in from August — where the glass doors of an office building in Chuo Ward were shattered to access safety deposit boxes — to the same roving Aichi-based syndicates.
“The perpetrators are driving from Aichi to commit these crimes in Tokyo before returning home,” a senior police official stated.
This month, the Metropolitan Police Department made a significant breakthrough, arresting four men—identified as 42-year-old Yoshimichi Tsutsumi and 39-year-old Kenko Yoshida, along with two others—all residents of Aichi Prefecture.
The suspects are currently accused of breaking into a luxury apartment complex in Shibuya Ward this past May, where they allegedly stole heated tobacco products and other valuables.
During the investigation, police discovered photos of high-end vehicles parked across Tokyo on the suspects’ smartphones, which investigators believe were being scouted as future targets.
Tokyo police are now working to determine if the detained group is responsible for the wider spree of burglaries plaguing the city. Authorities suspect multiple independent gangs may be coordinating similar operations and have launched an extensive investigation to identify other members of these cross-prefecture crime rings.
