Tokyo thefts linked to 80s jewelry gang
\nThe Asahi Shimbun<\/p>\n
A Hong Kong-based crime syndicate blamed for a series of jewelry heists in Japan in the late 1980s and early 90s appears to have resurfaced, according to Tokyo police.<\/p>\n
The gang goes by the name of Bakusetsudan (explosive theft group). It had a distinctive way of breaking into shops: Members used oil-pressure jacks or crow bars to create spaces in which to crawl through.<\/p>\n
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officials said that since June last year four jewelry shops in the Yuraku-cho district of Tokyo’s Chuo Ward had been broken into using the same method.<\/p>\n
The latest incident occurred Jan. 14.<\/p>\n
Investigators said a hole was made in a wall of a building that accommodated a jewelry shop.<\/p>\n
The thieves, however, fled empty-handed.<\/p>\n
Police believe footprints near the hole were from the gang members.<\/p>\n
The following day, thieves broke the backdoor glass of a jewelry shop just 200 meters away in the Ginza district and made off with rings and other jewelry worth about 8 million yen.<\/p>\n
Investigators said footprints left at the scene matched those in the Jan. 14 incident.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, similar cases have occurred in other prefectures, including Hiroshima, Hyogo and Fukuoka.<\/p>\n
In most of the cases, the robbers gained access by bashing small holes in walls that faced narrow alleyways.<\/p>\n
According to the MPD, footprints found at the scene in some of the Tokyo cases were similar to those left in an incident which took place in Hiroshima city in April, a well as the scene of a heist in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, in August.<\/p>\n
Of the Bakusetsudan members who escaped arrest in the 80s and 90s, some were believed to have returned to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
However, police say that at least one member recently returned to Japan. (IHT\/Asahi: February 6,2006)<\/p>\n
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Tokyo thefts linked to 80s jewelry gang The Asahi Shimbun A Hong Kong-based crime syndicate blamed for a series of jewelry heists in Japan in the late 1980s and early 90s appears to have resurfaced, according to Tokyo police. The gang goes by the name of Bakusetsudan (explosive theft group). It had a distinctive way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[411],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n