2 Indicted Men Arrested on Fresh Kokubunji Robbery Charges

   Tokyo, Dec. 2 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police rearrested Monday two 25-year-old men on charges of injuring and robbing a woman in her 60s at her house in a western Tokyo suburb in September.
   According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's First Criminal Investigation Division, Kiyotaka Sato and Rikiya Morita are suspected of breaking into the house in Kokubunji around 4 a.m. on Sept. 30 by smashing a window, and stealing about 5.5 million-yen cash and 14 items worth some 8,000 yen after tying down and beating the woman. She suffered injuries that could take three months to fully heal, including bone fractures on her left arm.
   The suspects, both company workers, have already been arrested and indicted for committing a house burglary and hurting a resident in Tokorozawa in the neighboring prefecture of Saimata the day after the Kokubunji incident.
   According to investigative sources, the two men, both pinched for money, applied for "dark" part-time jobs after searching on X, formerly Twitter, for high-paying work. They then received instructions through Signal, a highly confidential communication app.
   Before carrying out the Kokubunji burglary, they met up at a convenience store in Saitama and drove separately to a car park near the target house. After intruding into the house, they were receiving instructions over a mobile phone with the speaker on. The woman told police she was threatened by someone supposed to be a mastermind via the phone.

(2024/12/02-20:51)

To read a full story, please click here to find out how to subscribe.