Tokyo: Pickpocket targeted drunk passengers on Yamanote Line

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 64-year-old male pickpocket who has admitted to repeatedly targeting drunk victims on the JR Yamanote Line, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 24).

At 12:55 a.m. on Wednesday, Tomohiro Omine, of no known occupation, allegedly removed a wallet containing 5,000 yen in cash from the jacket pocket of a sleeping male office worker, 53, inside a carriage of a train as it traveled between Kanda and Tokyo stations.

“After getting out of prison on May 6, I didn’t have any spending money,” the suspect was quoted by police.

Since May 7, police are aware of 14 incidents in which drunk and sleeping passengers of the same line have had valuables taken from them. Police are investigating whether Omine was also behind the other cases.