TOKYO - Two men who stole four luxury watches worth a combined 200 million yen from a store at Tokyo's Nakano Broadway may have carefully planned the 10-second theft, with one suspect renting an electric kick scooter shortly before the crime and investigators examining whether the other man's escape on foot was intended as a decoy.
The theft took place in broad daylight at Nakano Broadway on August 25.
A representative of the facility's management association said a suspicious person had been seen around the complex shortly before the theft.
"A person carrying a black backpack in front of his body had been wandering around from about 10 minutes before the crime," the representative said. "I think he was checking the area beforehand."
Two men wearing black or gray clothing and black masks smashed a store display case with a hammer and stole four watches worth a total of about 200 million yen.
The entire theft took only about 10 seconds.
A witness said one of the men fled on an electric kick scooter. "I saw one of them ride away to the right on an electric kick scooter," the witness said.
The two suspects separated after leaving the store, with one believed to have escaped using the scooter.
Investigators later found that the man believed to have directly carried out the theft had rented the electric kick scooter near the scene about 10 minutes before the crime.
The two men are believed to have reunited on a pedestrian path about 350 meters from the store before heading in the direction of JR Nakano Station.
The electric kick scooter believed to have been used in the escape, along with clothing, was later found near the place where the two men are thought to have met again.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police are investigating the case as theft and searching for the two men as well as the four stolen watches.
The suspects' choice of escape methods has raised the possibility that the man who fled on foot may have been used as a decoy to divert attention from the accomplice carrying the stolen watches.
After the theft, one suspect fled south on foot while the other headed north on the electric kick scooter. They then apparently reunited about 350 meters away.
An electric kick scooter can be temporarily parked and locked while it remains rented. Unlocking it requires operating a smartphone app and takes about 10 seconds for the command to be processed, according to a test conducted by the television program.
However, if the scooter is left unlocked and ready to use, it can begin moving in about two seconds.
Crime journalist Yukio Ishihara said the suspects may have sought to exploit the natural tendency of pursuers to chase the person who appears easier to catch.
He said witnesses or others responding immediately after the theft could have been more likely to pursue the suspect running on foot rather than the person escaping on the scooter.
If that was the plan, Ishihara said, the stolen watches may have been carried by the suspect on the electric kick scooter, while the man fleeing on foot served as a decoy to draw attention away from him.
Source: TBS
