5 youths arrested over ATM robberies in quake-hit Tohoku
MIYAGI —
Miyagi prefectural police said Thursday they have arrested five youths aged between 18 and 19 for allegedly destroying ATMs in abandoned convenience stores and stealing the contents, in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The youths confessed to the crimes, telling police they wanted the money to spend on “having fun.” Police said the youths perpetrated the crimes between March 11 (the day of the tsunami) and March 21, around Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture. It is believed that the group made off with around 13 million yen in total.
Police said that the youths were all childhood friends and had been living in a shelter for disaster refugees.
Since the tsunami disaster, about 22 ATMs have been broken into in Miyagi Prefecture, accounting for about 180 million yen in lost currency. No other perpetrators have been found.
Compiled from news reports
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23 Comments
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1
ihavegreatlegs
I have seen cranes take these machines and attempt to crack them open and could not. How did these kids do it? I hope they spent a lot of time in the radiation zone, so they can be studied while incarcerated for the effects of radiation.
0
cleo
Crowbars are stronger than beaks?
4
mikeinhach
What disgusts me about this story, is that they wanted the money for fun. If they had said, we were desperate, we didn't have food, or we needed to help out our parents, but talk about the height of selfishness! This is what I see with this younger generation. I know I sound like an old fart, but it is the truth.
-5
some14some
what "fun" they can have in Miyagi? it is obvious they were desperate...poor kids, let them go.
0
pamelot
Some people go bowling, some people go to concerts...
Living in a shelter, no home, no money, no prospects...
There sits a piggy bank, ready to crack...
If it were me, I might be one of this merry band, but I'd've used my cut to relocate...
Kids.
Just sayin'...
0
miamum
And what country were they from? Because from what I heard it is only the foreigners committing these crimes up there.
3
hoserfella
Pamalot- was that an attempt at haiku or did u have a hacking cough at the keyboard which prevented u from writing coherent sentences?
1
Osakadaz
actually US$37 908 000 stolen from over 200 ATMS in the tsunami zone. These kids had a crack at it, but got too greedy.
1
Jason Lok
The police probably badgered them with the question "why did you do it?" and variations on the theme for 3 hours before they could unearth that trite statement from the kids.
1
Jack Stern
How about, "well if we didn't get to the money first, some currupt cops would get It". It could be that they were put up to it by the yaks since they were underage, they might get off light.
0
Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land
All those abandoned ATM machines. Talk about a sweet opportunity.
0
JeffLee
It's called "LOOTING" Come on, JT, call a spade spade. if this happened in a foreign country or if the perps were gaijin, you'd use the word "LOOTING."
-1
lucabrasi
"Looting" is certainly better than "robbery". It can't be "robbery" if it happened while there were no staff present in the store.
0
nandakandamanda
The covenience stores were probably evacuated rather than "abandoned" but when the chain owner is known and still around somewhere, is it looting, or is it robbery?
I think the Police have charged everyone so far with robbery for similar offences, although I agree this seems to be breaking and looting.
0
whiskeysour
Let them go with a warning
0
CrazyJoe
Miyagi Prefectural Police charged these kids with theft (窃盗).
0
hatsoff
Put them on the chain gang digging sludge and hauling rocks in you-know-where. It might technically be looting, but in the popular imagination, looting means stealing from your own community when there's a riot or civil unrest going on, and that didn't happen.
0
hatsoff
edit: not necessarily your own community
0
Fadamor
@ Jeff Lee and Lucabrasi:
FAIL. Robberies happen all the time when the store is closed and no one's around.
Definitions of "loot" as a verb:
verb (used with object)
to carry off or take (something) as loot: to loot a nation's art treasures.
to despoil by taking loot; plunder or pillage (a city, house, etc.), as in war.
to rob, as by burglary or corrupt activity in public office: to loot the public treasury.
So "looting" and "robbery" are interchangeable. Taking JT to task for using a verb correctly is merely trying to make these thieves' crimes seem less reprehensible. Personally I would have used "looting" in regards to them if they had TAKEN the ATM machines. But seeing as they actually broke open the ATM machines to get to the cash, they are just as guilty as if someone entered a bank and cracked the safe.
0
lucabrasi
@Fadamor
Funny that, because according to a legal dictionary, robbery is:
"The taking of money or goods in the possession of another, from his or her person or immediate presence, by force or intimidation."
In this case there was nobody around and certainly no intimidation. So, to quote your good self, "FAIL".
0
Tahoochi
OsakadazJul. 15, 2011 - 10:51AM JST
Osakadaz: What's your source??? That would mean each ATM had an average of US$190,000 in it????? I don't think so.
0
Elbuda Mexicano
Boys will be boys? Stupid boys will be more stupid boys? But leaving ATMs all over the place, just waiting form some one to steal them?? Come on, Japan is the country where oyajis go out and rent powerful equipment to take ATMS out from concrete! This kids, if they have a tv or a cellphone know this kind of thing goes on all over Japan, so they just saw an easy opportunity, right?
0
Skeptical Hippo
Other news websites phrased it as: "ATMs robbed".
Hope this helps.
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