Y3 mil stolen from JR station in Sapporo

Monday 07th September, 11:52 AM JST

SAPPORO —

A man broke into the JR Hoshioki station in Sapporo and stole around 3 million yen in cash after threatening a station employee with a kitchen knife, police said Monday. The robber, who appeared to be around 50 years old and 170 centimeters tall and wore a black cap and a mask, ran away after tying up the male employee, 21, with adhesive tape, according to the police.

The employee removed the tape by himself and called the police at around 12:30 a.m. Monday. The stolen money consisted of proceeds from ticket sales from Friday to Sunday and the employee was the only member of staff working there at the time of the incident, prompting the police to suspect the robber could be familiar with operations at the station.

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12 Comments

gogogo at 12:28 PM JST - 7th September

Inside job, the guy knew exactly when and where to strike.
DarkKnightNine at 12:41 PM JST - 7th September

Yep. Sounds like an inside job. Next we'll here the guy was an ex-employee at the station with some Pachinko debts. Oh yeah and that he was drunk at the time (that seems to be the reason for most crimes in Japan). Perhaps they should ban alcohol.
Wakarimasen at 12:46 PM JST - 7th September

or it could be a station cop pulling an inside job.
bokudayo at 01:00 PM JST - 7th September

wakarimasen - LOL indeed.

could well be a passenger who frequently comes through around that time.

opportunity makes a thief...
Yelnats at 02:14 PM JST - 7th September

Could be that the employee didn't drop off the cash or have it scheduled to be picked up by one of the armored companies. Lazy and no planning.
Red7Racing at 02:18 PM JST - 7th September

Poor risk management on JR's part having that volume of cash accessible to a single employee. Wake up call for all companies handling cash.
kokorocloud at 04:26 PM JST - 7th September

A kitchen knife... They can do some serious damage, but somehow the name makes it sound hilarious. Like holding someone up with a plastic fork or something. But anyway.

I feel bad for the guy who got taped up.
sappquest at 05:03 PM JST - 7th September

The robber, who appeared to be around 50 years old and 170 centimeters tall and wore a black cap and a mask...

If he wore a mask, how could the station employee tell his approximate age? I think cctv cameras need to be checked...
grafton at 09:43 PM JST - 7th September

It doesn’t say anywhere here that the bad guy was a Japanese. Now I wonder why that is?
dreamdrifter at 10:14 PM JST - 7th September

@grafton

Presumably because the guy may or may not have been Japanese?
TokyoRoughGuy at 04:29 AM JST - 8th September

Inside job.
hollywood1 at 04:42 AM JST - 8th September

License-that is the answer. Just as a person needs a license in the states to buy a deadly weapon like a .22 pistol, people in this country need a license to buy deadly kitchen knives. Register Kitchen Knives!