Suspects flee with suitcases containing $3.4m in cash after robbing victims in downtown Tokyo

TOKYO – A group of three suspects robbed seven people on a street in central Tokyo on the night of Jan 29, fleeing with suitcases that the victims said contained around 420 million yen (S$3.4 million) in cash, according to police.

A few hours later, a man with luggage containing 190 million yen in cash was attacked early on Jan 30 with pepper spray in a carpark at the capital’s Haneda airport, but nothing was stolen from him, the police said.

Investigators are looking into a possible link between the incidents.

In both cases, the victims said they were planning to transport the cash from Haneda airport to Hong Kong, the police and other sources said. A person who indicated he was responsible for the seven people said “the job was to exchange Japanese currency for Hong Kong dollars”.

The seven people, including Japanese and Chinese, were robbed at around 9.30pm in Taito Ward near JR Okachimachi Station as they were loading three suitcases containing the money into a passenger car.

One of the Chinese victims in his 40s was allegedly attacked with pepper spray by the group before they fled with the suitcases, the police said.

A pedestrian in his 50s was struck by a vehicle in the area around the same time that the suspects left the scene.

A small blue passenger car was later found abandoned in the area. The pedestrian sustained minor injuries, the police said.

According to an investigative source, the three robbers are believed to have switched from a car to a white van, driven by another person, as they fled.

The registered owner of the van is an individual with links to a gangster, the source said.

“The area around Okachimachi is lined with jewellery shops and has seen robberies before,” a woman in her 50s who lives in the neighborhood said, adding that the incident on Jan 29 scared her.

The other attempted robbery was reported at around 12.10am on Jan 30 by a Japanese man in his 50s. He said he had got out of his car when a white vehicle approached, and a person in the back seat sprayed him with an eye irritant.

Four people were in the white vehicle.

The man suffered minor injuries but later headed to Hong Kong, carrying the cash.

According to Hong Kong media, two men were allegedly robbed of a backpack containing 58 million yen outside a currency exchange in Sheung Wan in Hong Kong on Jan 30 morning. The two men are reportedly Japanese.

Hong Kong police announced on Jan 30 that at least one suspect had been arrested in the case on the island, without providing further details, including the allegations.

Tokyo police plan to investigate the possibility that the man who headed to Hong Kong may have been targeted again. KYODO NEWS