KYODO NEWS - May 9, 2017 - 20:01 | Urgent, All

More than 85 million yen in cash was stolen from a safe at a police station in the western Japan city of Hiroshima, the police said Tuesday.

The cash, 85.72 million yen ($760,000) in total, had been held in a safe at Hiroshima Chuo Police Station as part of the evidence in a fraud case. A police officer noticed the money was missing around 8 p.m. on Monday, the police said.

The police are investigating the possibility that one of their own made away with the haul.

They declined to clarify exactly why such a large amount of cash had been kept in the safe, saying doing so could affect the investigation.

"It is extremely regrettable that a theft took place within a police facility," Hiromi Yamada, deputy head of the police station said.

The police station is located in the center of Hiroshima city, next to the prefectural police headquarters in the city's Naka Ward.