There is a story I heard a few years ago, and from the second I heard it, it’s been stuck in my memory. This story starts on December 10th 1968 in Tokyo Japan. Four employees of the Nippon Trust Bank were transporting metal boxes containing bonuses for Toshiba factory employees. The value of these boxes amounted to just under 300 million Yen, close to 1 million dollars at the time. About 200 meters away from their destination, outside of the local Fuchu prison, the men were stopped by a young police officer. The officer warned the men that the home of the branch manager had just been blown up and that dynamite had been planted beneath their transport car. The police officer, trying to locate the bomb, crawled under the van to investigate. Seconds later the van became engulfed in smoke and flames. The officer crawled out from under the van and shouted that it was about to explode! The employees ran for cover alongside the prison walls, and when they looked again their van had disappeared.
So what happened exactly?
Well, let’s have a look at what the investigation showed. Firstly the employees had believed the so-called officer because weeks leading up to the heist, letters had been sent to the bank threatening the bank and its manager. Secondly, the smoke and flames were the result of a flare lit by the officer while under the van.
Now onto the van and the officer’s motorbike. The transit vehicle was eventually abandoned a couple of km away, with the money being transferred into another vehicle. The officer’s bike, which was used to block the road, was just a plain motorbike painted white to look official. The scene of the heist also featured an abundance of evidence. 120 items to be exact. But all turned out to be common items left behind to confuse investigators, and throw them off the trail.
The investigation that followed became the biggest investigation in Japanese history. It started with the arrest of a 19-year-old suspect that was the son of a Police Official. The son had no alibi for the event, and also was known to have a sketchy background. The son, unfortunately, passed away 5 days later on the 15th of December that year. He had ingested cyanide, and died, with the verdict being suicide. Further investigation showed no money and ultimately ruled the son out.
The investigation continued with a total of 170 000 policemen participating and over 110 000 suspects being interviewed. Fingerprints collected from the scene were run through the database with no matches found.
The case grew cold after that. No real links to the fake officer were found, and no one seemed to know anything about the events of that day.
The aftermath.
7 years later, on November 15th 1975, a friend of the 19-year-old suspect was arrested. His charges were unrelated to the heist, but upon further investigation, a large sum of money was found in his possession. He refused to admit where the money came from, and the officers had no proof that it was acquired illegally, so the case stopped there. A month later, the police announced that the Statute of Limitations on the crime had passed, and no further investigations would continue. The perpetrator was free to walk around and tell his story, with zero consequences.