Overview

• Osaka Prefectural Police arrested two 16-year-old boys from Tokyo and Saitama on July 31 on suspicion of stealing six official Expo shopping bags from a store on the site in mid-June.
• Security camera footage and a store employee’s intervention at a second official store helped officers pinpoint the suspects.
• Investigators seized additional limited-edition merchandise, including a model of the Expo-wrapped train, from the suspects’ residences.
• Authorities are probing whether the suspects listed stolen goods on online flea-market platforms for resale.
• Police treat this group as distinct from earlier arrests of university students who stole “Myak Myak” mascot items.