SAITAMA -- An employee of Japan Mint has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a gold bar from the mint's museum in Tokyo, police said.

Local police arrested Yutaka Umeno, 54, of Nishi Ward, Saitama, an employee of the general affairs section of Japan Mint. Umeno has reportedly admitted to the allegations, saying he stole the bar to pay off losses he incurred in foreign exchange transactions.

Police allege that at around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 this year, Umeno stole the gold bar, which weighs about 15 kilograms and is worth about 63.84 million yen. It was on display on the second floor of the Mint Museum in Tokyo's Toshima Ward, where Umeno works. According to prefectural police, the bar was in an acrylic case, and Umeno instructed an employee beneath him to remove the bar from the case because he was going to use it "for his job." However, he is thought to have actually sold the bar in January to a pawn shop in Saitama.

According to Japan Mint, Umeno was in charge of the lending out of displays in the museum. Another employee of the mint asked Umeno a number of times to return the gold bar. On June 14, Umeno left work early saying he felt unwell. On June 15 and 16 he didn't show up for work, and on June 17 he told his family he was going to work and vanished until he was found and arrested.