Overview

• The Tokyo Metropolitan Police announced on September 19 the theft arrests of three Vietnamese men with no fixed address on suspicion of stealing rice from two Gunma supermarkets.
• The alleged May 12 thefts in Maebashi and Isesaki involved 105 kilograms of rice and other goods across 28 items worth about ¥106,000.
• Police say multiple delivery slips were seized that indicate the stolen rice may have been shipped to other parties, and the rice has not been recovered.
• One suspect has confessed while two deny involvement, and the trio allegedly entered separately, loaded rice onto carts, and took it to a car without paying.
• The probe links the men to visits to roughly 60 supermarkets across five prefectures in April–May, after they were first detained in Ibaraki in May on suspected immigration violations and identified through phone analysis.