A number of men broke into a residence in the city of Mitaka in western Tokyo early Wednesday, attacking a man in his 70s who lives there, before running away, according to Tokyo police.
A woman who lives at the property called the police around 1:10 a.m. on Wednesday, calling for help and saying that someone had broken into her home. One of the perpetrators choked the man, but when he fought back, they fled. The male resident didn't sustain any injuries.
Police are investigating the case as an attempted robbery and are looking for the suspects.
According to investigators, there were three family members in the residence at the time of the break in. When the man was in bed on the first floor, he heard someone trying to open the door. The perpetrators then forced open the shutters on a window, broke the window glass and came in, they said.
The male resident came face to face with the perpetrators, but they didn't ask for money, investigators said. The suspects appeared to have fled through the window by which they entered.
Since the end of August, there have been more than 20 cases of robbery, and breaking and entering in the Tokyo metropolitan area. A joint investigation team from Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures suspect that the same individual may have orchestrated all of the cases.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.