Man questioned over 20 burglary cases

Police in Tokyo said Friday that a 36-year-old man arrested for a burglary in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, is being questioned over his involvement in at least 20 other similar robberies.

According to police, the suspect, identified as Masashi Omiya, broke into the house of a man in Choshi in June and stole 2 million yen in cash and a small collection of five high-end wrist watches worth about 3 million yen, TV Asahi reported.

Omiya fled the scene, but on Aug 25, he was arrested in the Kabuki-cho red light district in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward. Following his arrest, police linked Omiya's fingerprints to the scenes of eight other burglary cases in and around Choshi, and estimated the total amount of damages to be around 10 million yen.

Police quoted Omiya as saying that he has burgled at least 20 homes and that he used the stolen money to pay for his living expenses.

© Japan Today