Tokyo-Area Police Upgrade Joint Headquarters for Robberies

Tokyo, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--Police in Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba upgraded their joint investigation headquarters Friday for a series of robberies in the Tokyo metropolitan area since the end of August.

The headquarters will collect information on the 14 robbery cases in the four prefectures, as well as many other crimes, including remittance fraud and burglaries, suspected of involving "tokuryu" ad hoc crime groups formed via social media by bringing together people who do not know each other.

The headquarters will conduct full-scale investigations to uncover the chain of command.

According to the National Police Agency and others, the headquarters has some 300 members, including investigators of the Metropolitan Police Department's first investigation division, in charge of robbery cases. Also included are some 50 investigators specializing in remittance fraud, theft, organized crimes, cybercrimes and others.

Police have arrested 29 people in nine of the 14 robbery cases. The headquarters will examine mobile phones and other seized items after analysis by an MPD division.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]