Tokyo veteran busted after 30 years of pickpocketing

Dec 21, 2023 | News On Japan

TOKYO - A 72-year-old woman has been apprehended in Tokyo's bustling Ikebukuro district for a pickpocketing spree believed to have lasted close to thirty years.

The arrest came after she allegedly stole a wallet from another elderly woman at a local department store.

The unemployed woman faces charges for the theft of a purse containing 50,000 yen from a 76-year-old woman. The incident took place in the basement clothing section of the Tobu Department Store in Ikebukuro, just after noon on Wednesday.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department reports indicate that the suspect, who was using clothing items to disguise her actions, was caught red-handed by a police officer who was on high alert as part of a year-end crime prevention effort.

This is not Sasaki's first brush with the law; she has a history of multiple arrests over the past 30 years for similar offenses in the Ikebukuro area.

Upon her arrest, Sasaki confessed, "I stole because I had no money."

Source: ANNnewsCH

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