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SoraNews24
2 days ago
- SoraNews24
Indian man in Japan arrested on charges of using curry spices as weapon in robbery attempt
Spicy tactics used in attempted theft of over 7 million yen, police say. In many societies, food is one of the fist touchpoints people have with foreign cultures, and so in Japan mentions of India will almost always bring to mind thoughts of curry and other aromatic examples of Indian cuisine. So it's both startling, and yet also sort of within imagination, that an Indian resident of Japan has been arrested on assault charges in which the weapon used was cooking spices. At around 3:20 in the afternoon on March 14, a 52-year-old Japanese man was walking on the street in the town of Yoshikawa, Saitama Prefecture, when he was approached by a group of four Indian and Nepalese men who, according to the Saitama Prefectural Police, attempted to steal the business bag he was carrying. Rather than brandish a knife, baseball bat, or any other of the melee weapons used by criminals in firearms-strict Japan, the attackers instead smeared powdered cooking spices 'of the sort used in curry' according to reports, on the man's face and into his eyes, in an attempt to blind and incapacitate him. The victim was able to fight back, though, hanging on to his bag and yelling loudly until the attacker gave up and fled the scene. It was a pretty brazen plan, but the would-be robbers apparently had reason to think this could be a very big score for them. The man they attacked is the president of dispatch worker staffing services company, which one of the attackers, a 31-year-old Indian man who lives in Ibaraki Prefecture, was an employee of at the time. On that day, the president was in Yoshikawa to make salary payments to workers dispatched by his company, and apparently makes such payments in cash, and so had roughly 7.8 million yen (US$54,000) in cash in his bag. Investigators believe the attackers knew the man would have a substantial amount of money on him while he was in Yoshikawa, which is why they decided to make their move in the middle of the afternoon. The victim was taken to the hospital where he received medical treatment for conjunctiva (inflammation of the eyes), but does not appear to have suffered permanent vision damage in the attack. The Saitama Prefectural Police, using security camera footage, have identified and arrested the four men they believe were involved in the attack on charges of assault and attempted robbery. Sources: Yomiuri Shimbun via Livedoor News via Jin, NHK News Web, Sankei Shimbun via Hachima Kiko Top image ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Tokyo Reported
2 days ago
- Tokyo Reported
Indian and Nepalese suspects smeared spice powder on face of company president during robbery
SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police have arrested four Indian and Nepalese suspects for allegedly smearing spice powder in the face of a company president during a robbery earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 9). At around 3:20 p.m. on March 14, Aman Sharma, a 31-year-old Indian national, and three accomplices allegedly smeared something like spice powder on the face of the 52-year-old male president of a staffing company as he walked along a city road in Yoshikawa City. They then tried to steal his bag containing about 7.8 million yen in cash. The president suffered inflammation to his eyes in the incident. The injury took two weeks to heal, police said. Police have not revealed whether any of the suspects admit to allegations of robbery and assault. However, the four suspects reportedly suggested they were all 'short of money' at the time of the incident, reports TV Asahi (June 10). Aman Sharma (X) On the day of the incident, the president was on his way to deliver wages to employees in Yoshikawa. Sharma and three other suspects were lying in wait for him. Wearing masks and black rubber gloves, the perpetrators approached him from behind and smeared the spice powder into his eyes. After the company president called for help, the perpetrators fled the scene empty-handed. They surfaced as persons of interest in the case after an examination of security camera footage. Sharma had worked at the staffing company on a contract basis. Police believe they suspects committed the crime because Sharma knew that the day of the incident was payday.
Tokyo Reported
22-05-2025
- Tokyo Reported
Man suspected of leaving wife's corpse in Saitama rental space for 14 years
SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police have arrested a 50-year-old man who is suspected of leaving the corpse of his wife in a rental space in Tokorozawa City for more than one decade, reports NHK (May 21). Between mid-September 2011 and February 15, Hitoshi Hoya, of no known occupation, allegedly left the corpse of his wife, Miharu, inside a drum placed in the rented unit. Upon his arrest on suspicion of abandoning a corpse on Wednesday, Hoya admitted to the allegations. He also hinted at murdering Miharu. He was sent to prosecutors on Thursday. On April 18, an employee at a recycling company in Yoshikawa City alerted police about a body found in a sealed drum. The body later identified as being that of Miharu was covered in a blue tarp. The day before, drum — measuring about 60 centimeters in diameter and 90 centimeters deep — was picked up by the recycling company in Tokorozawa at the request of the management company of the rental space due to unpaid fees. Hitoshi Hoya (X) Hoya lived with his wife in Tokorozawa in 2011. Police believe that Miharu died over the summer that year. That September, Hoya entered into an agreement with the rental space. The cause of death is currently not known. Since police found external injuries on the body, the investigation is ongoing on suspicion of murder and injury resulting in death. Police first arrested Hoya in Tokyo last month for violating the Road Traffic Act for driving a vehicle that had not undergone appropriate inspections. The statute of limitations on abandoning a corpse is three years. However, police applied such charges under the view that the abandonment continued until February of this year, when he was still able to open the door to the space.
The Mainichi
22-05-2025
- The Mainichi
Tokyo-area man arrested after wife's body found in storage container
SAITAMA -- Police in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, arrested a man May 21 on suspicion of abandoning his wife's body, which was previously found in a drum container on the premises of a recycling company in the prefecture. The suspect, 50-year-old Hitoshi Hoya of no fixed address and unemployed, has reportedly admitted to the allegations and hinted at murder. The prefectural police are advancing the investigation with the possibility of charges such as murder and injury causing death. Hoya is specifically accused of abandoning the body of his wife, Miharu, sometime between mid-September 2011 and Feb. 15 this year. The couple lived together in the city of Tokorozawa at the time. She was placed in a container approximately 60 centimeters in diameter and 90 cm deep at a storage facility in the city. According to Saitama Prefectural Police, Hoya contracted the storage unit in September 2011. Police believe Miharu had died that summer. External injuries were found on the body, and investigations will focus on the cause of death. On April 17 this year, the drum container was retrieved by the recycling company in the prefectural city of Yoshikawa at the management company's request due to persisting unpaid storage fees. The body of Miharu, who was 39 in 2011, was covered in a blue tarp when she was found by a recycling company employee the next day. The drum reportedly had its lid sealed. The same month, Hoya was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly driving an uninspected light vehicle in violation of the Road Transport Vehicle Act and was afterward indicted. Although there is a three-year statute of limitations for abandoning a body, Saitama police determined that Hoya's obligation as the husband to properly take care of his wife's body meant he was still perpetrating the act of abandonment, putting it within the statute and leading to his arrest. (Japanese original by Yusuke Sato, Saitama Bureau)
02-05-2025
Truck Driver Confirmed Dead 3 Months after Saitama Road Collapse
News from Japan Society May 2, 2025 14:10 (JST) Yashio, Saitama Pref., May 2 (Jiji Press)--A search team on Friday found a person inside the cab of a truck that fell into a sinkhole created on a road in Saitama Prefecture in January and confirmed the death of what appeared to be the 74-year-old driver of the truck. The body was taken to the Saitama Prefectural Police's Soka Station past 8 a.m. Police officers and firefighters started searching for the missing male truck driver at around 4:20 a.m. following the installation of a ventilation system to remove deadly hydrogen sulfide from a sewer pipe in which the cab had been stuck and a scaffold for going inside the pipe under the prefectural road in the city of Yashio. The truck fell into the sinkhole created at the center of an intersection on Jan. 28. The road collapse is believed to have been caused by the pipe's rupture Search work had been prevented by the soft ground conditions and the sinkhole's expansion due to a massive influx of rainwater. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
