Police have arrested four Colombians on suspicion of stealing some 1 million yen from a Canadian man in June in front of a bank in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
The four apparently distracted the man by scattering several 1,000 yen bills at his feet, investigative sources told Kyodo News on Sunday.
According to police, the three men and a woman scattered several bills on the ground and stole the cash from an automatic teller machine while the man was picking up the bills at his feet.
The incident allegedly occurred in front of the Marunouchi branch of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in Chiyoda Ward.
The sources said the four have admitted that they were involved in two other thefts in July, in which a total of 5 million yen was stolen.
One of two distraction ploys -- scattering cash or smearing a cream-like substance on the victims' clothing -- was used in each case, police said.
The sources said the police believe the four are members of a theft ring comprising 20 to 30 foreign nationals.
The police had arrested one of the three men and the woman by the end of July. The two others were arrested Sunday morning.
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