SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police last week apprehended a wanted man in connection with a pair of robbery and assault cases that have occurred in Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo over the past few weeks.
On the night of October 7, police apprehended Rikiya Morita, 24, in Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture. He was then accused of robbery and assault over a case that occurred in Tokorozawa City, Saitama, reports Jiji Press (Oct. 8).
The incident, which took late on October 1, was carried out by Morita and three other suspects, including 43-year-old Takashi Kaido.
The four allegedly broke into a house in Tokorozawa, tied up an 85-year-old man with adhesive tape and stole about 80,000 yen in cash and a credit card.
According to investigators, Morita has admitted to the charges.
After the incident, police arrested the other three suspects. Morita, who fled the scene by car, was placed on a wanted list.
According to the prefectural police, Morita was apprehended as Niigata Prefectural Police investigated a tokushu sagi (“special fraud”) case, which is carried out on the telephone.
According to the prefectural police, after the Tokorozawa incident, Morita drove to the area of Shin-Kodaira Station on the JR Musashino Line in Kodaira City, Tokyo. From there, he took a taxi to Higashimurayama City, Tokyo, where he stayed for about 10 hours.
He then reportedly traveled to Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture by Shinkansen train.
According to investigators, the prefectural police seized a car believed to have been driven by Morita near the scene in Tokorozawa. The same car is said to have been used in a robbery and assault that occurred in Kokubunji City, Tokyo the previous day.
Prefectural police and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police commenced a search for him, believing he was involved in both incidents.
