Police arrested a 28-year-old man from Saitama Prefecture on Sunday on suspicion of robbery and assault after he allegedly broke into a home in Chiba Prefecture and attacked one of the residents.
The suspect, Yuta Kaneko from the city of Shiki, Saitama Prefecture, who identified himself as a company employee, has admitted to the allegations, according to the Chiba Prefectural Police. Kaneko told investigators he had searched for “part-time jobs” on the social media platform X, where he was connected to someone who offered him ¥100,000 to “check on a package.” He reportedly communicated with his contact through the encrypted messaging app Signal.
Police allege that between 4:20 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. on Sunday, Kaneko broke into a single-story home in a neighborhood in the city of Yotsukaido in Chiba Prefecture by smashing a window. He allegedly pinned down and struck a 57-year-old man who was sleeping, then stole ¥13,000 from a wallet left in an adjacent room.
The victim’s mother called the police to report that an intruder had entered her home and was assaulting her son. Officers arrived at the scene and arrested Kaneko, who was still nearby.
The man suffered facial injuries but is not in a life-threatening condition. The scene of the crime is a semirural area roughly 3 kilometers southeast of Yotsukaido Station and is surrounded by both farmland and residential buildings.
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