The Man who Stole 300 Million yen without Harming Anybody

On the morning of December 10, 1968, a cash transport car belonging to the Kokubunji branch of Nihon Shintaku Ginko (bank) containing Toshiba Fuchu factory employees’ bonuses of 300,000,000 yen cash packed into metal boxes was stopped in a street next to Tokyo Fuchu prison by a young policeman riding on a police motorcycle. The policeman said, “Your branch manager’s house was blown up and we have received information that dynamite has been planted in this car, so I’ll check it.” He let the four bank staff get out and dove under the car.

After a while, the policeman hurriedly crawled out and shouted, “It is going to explode — get back quickly!” They could see red flames beneath the car. When the four staff moved back to the wall of the prison, the policeman got into the driver’s seat and drove away with the money. This is the “300 million yen case,” a crime that has never been seen before in Japan’s history.

The bank staff readily believed the thief’s instructions as he had sent threatening letters to the bank manager beforehand. The red flame was from a warning flare ignited by the criminal beneath the car. The escaping thief later stopped the cash-laden car and transferred the metal boxes to another car that he had previously stolen and prepared as a getaway car in advance. On top of that, he later transferred the money to another car that he had also prepared on his escape route and he successfully evaded the dragnet.

Since the criminal left 120 pieces of evidence at the scene of the crime, including the police motorcycle, it seemed it would only be a matter of time before he was arrested. However, the evidence left behind was only everyday mass produced items that the criminal had scattered on purpose to stifle the police investigation. He had painted his motorcycle white and put on a white helmet to disguise himself as a policeman and carried out the crime according to a detailed plan.

Who is the man in the montage picture?
The police launched a large investigation, printed 780,000 montage pictures and posted them throughout Japan. There was almost no one who didn’t see the montage picture. 110,000 people were on the list of suspects and 170,000 policemen participated in the investigation — the largest investigation in Japanese history. However, the case ended with no arrest after the period for lawsuits expired in 1975, just 30 years ago.

The montage picture that was released made this case even more mysterious. In fact it was later disclosed that the picture was of a man who had died at a construction site in 1967, one year before the case was opened. The picture was allegedly taken when the man was arrested on weapons violations. The police used a picture of a dead man who had no connection to the criminal at the centre of the investigation.

In today’s currency, 300 million yen would be worth more than 2,000 million yen. As the cash transport car was insured, Toshiba received the full amount. A number of books were published and movies made about this case, however, interestingly, there were no actual victims. This brilliant crime in which the perpetrator stole so much money but harmed no one was even praised by some people.

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