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Thief mails 460 million-yen watch back to Tokyo store he stole it from, says “I’m sorry”

Casey Baseel a few minute ago
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Latest crook to hit Tokyo’s hottest theft target feels either remorse or fear, but probably shouldn’t expect forgiveness.

In a city as big as Tokyo, different neighborhoods have different atmospheres, but those reputations can change over time. For example, Nakano is best known for its Nakano Broadway shopping center, which used to be thought of almost entirely as a place for fans of eclectic pop and subculture genres, sort of like a weirder, less trendy version of Akihabara. Over the last few years, though, Nakano Broadway has become famous for having a dense concentration of luxury wristwatch stores, stocked with both new and used high-demand models.

Sadly, Nakano Broadway’s reputation is continuing to evolve, and it’s now becoming a place known for attracting not only watch fans, but watch thieves too. On the evening of October 29, a man, at the time seemingly an interested shopper, approached a salesperson inside a watch store in Nakano Broadway and asked if he could try on a piece that was in a locked showcase. The salesperson obliged, and the man slipped on a watch from Swiss brand Audemars Piguet, only to suddenly run off with it still on his wrist. And while the man hadn’t been an actual shopper, he apparently still knew a thing or two about watches, as the model he stole has a price of 46 million yen (approximately US$290,000).

▼ A CG reenactment of the crime

After fleeing the building, the man escaped out into the web of narrow streets that twist around Nakano Broadway. However, this is still a fairly developed part of Tokyo, not the sort of place where a sprinting thief can blend in with fitness joggers, but Nakano also isn’t so dense one can easily disappear into a sea of passersby either. As a result, investigators were able to spot the fleeing man in recording from multiple security cameras, as shown in the video here.

▼ The video also shows the model of watch that was stolen.

Though the thief is still at large (as of this writing), the stolen watch has been returned, and, surprisingly, it was the thief himself who returned it, via a takuhaibin/parcel delivery service. On the morning of November 1, a cardboard box which had been mailed from Aichi Prefecture was delivered to the store that was robbed, and when the staff opened it, they found a watch matching the model and serial number of the one that was stolen, plus a handwritten letter of apology that included the statement “I’m sorry.” The watch doesn’t appear to have suffered any noticeable damage during its time away from the store.

Online reactions to the unexpected turn of events have included:

“Must have realized it was only a matter of time until they caught him.”
“Okay, so he got spooked and returned the watch. He still stole it.”
“Returning it doesn’t undo the crime. Turn yourself in.”
“It’s like he thinks they’ll just treat it as a prank since he the watch back.”
“If you know you should return it, you should have known not to take it in the first place.”
“Thieves have totally marked Nakano Broadway.”
“If they’re going to let people try on watches that are that expensive, they should make them do it in a locked room.”

With law-abiding citizens in Japan still fuming over a different brazen watch robbery that recently took place at Nakano Broadway, it’s not surprising that public sentiment isn’t leaning towards letting the guy off the hook just because he returned the property that he stole. Japan is, after all, the country that says “If everything could be solved by saying ‘sorry,’ we wouldn’t need police,” and investigators are still searching for the thief.

Source: Teleasa News via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin, FNN Prime Online, TBS News Dig, YouTube/日テレNEWS
Top image: Pakutaso
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