A group of three Vietnamese citizens have been arrested in Tokyo, accused of serial shoplifting.
A 25-year-old male and two females were arrested on November 12 for robbing cosmetics stores in Tokyo, VN Express reported. The male, according to local media, is a former student and now an asylum seeker.
Authorities in Tokyo first started investigating the trio in May when they received a complaint from a drug store. Police investigations then pointed to the likelihood that, from January to July, the gang had robbed a minimum of 10 stores.
The gang, who rented an apartment in the city, had a system for their operations. One of them would do the shoplifting, one would be the lookout and one was the designated driver.
According to Kyodo News, Vietnamese committed more crimes in Japan than people of other nationalities in 2017. Over the course of the year, 5,140 crimes committed by Vietnamese nationals were recorded, with shoplifting and burglary the two most frequent offences.
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