Japan crime news just got wild again. Tokyo cops have locked up four young guys for trying to pull off a massive cash grab at Haneda Airport earlier this year — we’re talking ¥190 million (that’s like $1.2 million USD) in cold hard cash.
The suspects are:
- Yoshito Koyama, 20
- Hizuki Sugamori, 22
- A 16-year-old boy
- And one more guy in his 20s
What went down
Around 12:10 a.m. on January 30, a man in his 50s is standing next to his car in the Terminal 3 parking lot, casually transferring big bags of cash into a suitcase.
These four roll up on him.
“What are you doing?” they bark, then straight-up blast him in the face with pepper spray (tear gas style) and smash his side mirror with a police-looking baton.
Classic intimidation move… except it instantly falls apart.
Turns out there were several other guys sitting inside the victim’s car the whole time. The robbers spot them, panic, and bounce empty-handed. Total fail.
This wasn’t some random street jacking
Police say the whole thing was heavily planned. The crew had somehow gotten wind of the cash transfer in advance. They tailed the guy’s car all the way to the airport, memorized the model, license plate, and exact parking spot.
After the failed hit, their getaway car was later found dumped on a riverbed out in Atsugi, Kanagawa. They’d ripped off the plates and dumped fire extinguisher powder all over the inside to try and wipe any evidence. Desperate stuff.
And get this — just minutes before they went after the big score, they tried snatching a bag from a completely different guy in his 20s in the same parking lot. Cops think they mixed him up and thought he was carrying the money. They already got pinched for that earlier attempt.
Possible yakuza connection?
Here’s where it gets even spicier. Only about two hours and 40 minutes before the Haneda mess, someone snatched a suitcase stuffed with ¥420 million on a street in Ueno. Several yakuza members have already been indicted for that one.
Police are looking into whether the two huge cash heists are connected. Wouldn’t be shocked if this young crew was somehow tied into a bigger underworld operation.
As of now, cops haven’t said whether the four have confessed or not.
Wild to think someone was just casually moving nearly 200 million yen through an airport parking lot at midnight… and these kids thought pepper spray and a baton would be enough to walk away with it.
Japan never disappoints with the crime stories, huh? Stay safe out there (and maybe don’t count your millions in public parking lots).
