A 20-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing items from unmanned police boxes in Tokyo and three prefectures in the Kanto region, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
The suspect was identified as Takashi Toda, unemployed, of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Police suspect Toda broke a second-floor window at a police box in the Kita-koiwa district of Tokyo's Edogawa Ward sometime between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Feb. 26 before stealing a bulletproof jacket and other items.
There have been 21 thefts at police boxes in Tokyo and Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures since Feb. 22, when an officer's jacket was stolen in Ota Ward.
Toda reportedly admitted to the thefts. A Kanagawa Prefectural Police uniform was found in his home and confiscated as evidence, investigators said.
Police believe Toda committed the thefts because of an infatuation with police-related paraphernalia.
Investigators targeted Toda because he resembled the man seen on security cameras at the Kita-koiwa police box and because he tried to sell the bulletproof jacket to a shop in Edogawa Ward that deals in police goods.