This year, there have been five robbery injuries in which a group of three with knives broke into houses in the Kanto region, such as Ibaraki and Kanagawa, to steal cash.

On the other hand, in Chiba, there have been two incidents in which a group of three broke into a store, and the police are investigating whether there is any connection.

In the early hours of the 14th, a group of three men broke into a house in Ryugasaki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, tied the hands and feet of a couple in their 70s living in the house with adhesive tape, threatened them with kitchen knives, and took about 25,000 yen in cash before fleeing. rice field.



Three hours later, a group of three men broke into a house in Tsukuba City, took about 800,000 yen in cash, and fled.

According to the police, in the Kanto region, in addition to this, robbery injury cases targeting houses occurred in Miyamae Ward, Kawasaki City on the 9th, Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture on the 10th, and Nishi Ward, Saitama City on the 12th.



According to investigative sources, all five incidents are believed to have been committed by a group of three, with common modalities such as smashing window glass from early morning to early morning and tying the victims with adhesive tape. is to be seen.



On the other hand, in Chiba, there is also an incident that targeted stores instead of houses.

On the 9th of this month, in Ichikawa City, a group of three men smashed the showcase of a pawn shop just before closing with something like a hammer and took away a total of 4.6 million yen worth of luxury wristwatches. On the same day, there was a robbery injury incident believed to be by a group of three at a recycle shop in Oamishirasato City.



The police are investigating whether there is any connection with these incidents that have been occurring one after another in the Kanto region since the beginning of this year, such as by analyzing security camera images.

Victim “Threatened me with a kitchen knife”

A man in his 70s living in Ryugasaki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, who was broken into by a group of three on the 14th and was robbed of cash, responded to NHK's interview on the 16th.



Regarding the situation at the time, the man said, "When I was sleeping in my bedroom, I woke up to the sound of 'Gashan' and my wife's 'Kya'. Immediately after that, someone grabbed my shoulders." talked.



And he said, "I was told, 'Give me the money,' and when I replied, 'I don't have anything,' I was approached, 'No, there must be something,' and the criminal took me to the place where the money was kept." I looked back.



In addition, one of the culprits pointed a kitchen knife at him and threatened to ``do not speak''.



The man said, ``The criminal's voice was quiet and I felt that he was calm.



In addition, it is said that the three men who broke into the house looked like they were in their 20s or 30s, judging from their facial expressions.



One of them was wearing dark clothes.



The man's mouth was covered with adhesive tape and his arms were tied, but after hearing a sound that sounded like the trio had driven away, he rubbed the tape around his mouth on his wrists, and the tape on his arms He said he twisted it, caught it on his teeth, and tore it off and reported it to the police.



The man said, ``I never thought that it would happen to me. The trauma continues. I want him to be caught soon."