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 four assailants are believed to have fled toward Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The police are searching for the quartet. Shortly before the incident, another group transporting a large amount 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 the vehicle soon caused a hit-and-run accident in a nearby area. The trio later switched to a different vehicle driven by another person. The vehicle is believed to have headed toward the city of Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. The Tokyo police suspect that more people were involved in the incident in addition to the perpetrators. In police questioning, one of the five victims in the Taito Ward case made comments to the effect of “I agreed to transport cash for 30,000 yen (per delivery), and I have carried out the job several times before but have never been paid,” according to investigators. In both cases, the cash was slated to be transported to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong on Friday morning, two Japanese men were robbed of a backpack containing about 58 million yen by two individuals. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]