EXCLUSIVE: Fake License Plates Used on Car in Haneda Robbery Attempt

Tokyo, Jan. 31 (Jiji Press)–A team of four people who attempted cash robbery at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport early Friday is believed to have used fake license plates for its vehicle, Jiji Press learned Saturday. Around 12:10 a.m. Friday, the four individuals in a white car approached a group of people including a Japanese man in his 50s on the third floor of a multilevel parking facility adjacent to the airport’s Terminal 3, and attacked the victims’ car with a hammer and spray, according to investigative sources. Two suitcases containing a total of about 190 million yen in cash were in the victims’ car, but they were not stolen. The organized crime division of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department checked the license plates of the attackers’ vehicle and found that the number on the plates was not registered. The police are searching for the four assailants. Shortly before the incident, another group carrying a lot of cash was assaulted in Tokyo. In the Japanese capital’s Taito Ward around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the group was robbed of three suitcases apparently containing a total of 423 million yen. Three people fled the scene in a car, and they later switched to a different vehicle, which is believed to be registered under the name of a person linked to an organized crime group. In both cases, the cash was slated to be transported to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong on Friday morning, two Japanese men, including the man in his 50s who was a victim of the incident at Haneda, were robbed of a backpack containing about 58 million yen by two individuals. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]