3 Japanese, 3 Others Arrested over Robbery in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Jan. 31 (Jiji Press)–Police in Hong Kong on Saturday arrested six people, including three Japanese, for their alleged roles in a case in which a Japanese man in his 50s was robbed of more than 50 million yen in cash in the region Friday. Before the incident, the victim was assaulted at a parking facility at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport early Friday but narrowly prevented some 190 million yen in cash from being stolen. The man brought the same amount of cash to Hong Kong. Hong Kong police plan to confirm with Japanese police if needed regarding possible links between the two incidents. The Hong Kong case is believed to have involved two Japanese assailants. In police questioning, one of the three Japanese suspects claimed to have transported the cash from Japan to Hong Kong with the man in his 50s and to be a victim. But the person is believed to have provided information related to the crime to the robbery group and cooperated in the offense. The other three arrestees are two from mainland China and one from Hong Kong. Initially, some 58 million yen was reported to have been stolen in the Hong Kong incident. But police said Saturday that about 51 million yen was stolen. According to Hong Kong media, the man in his 50s and the other individual arrived in Hong Kong by air Friday morning and then took a taxi to a foreign exchange office in Sheung Wan, part of the region. Soon after getting off the taxi, the man was assaulted and robbed of a backpack containing cash. In Sheung Wan, which has many currency exchange offices, last December, two Chinese employees of a Japanese company were robbed of about 1 billion yen in cash. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]