About ¥250 million ($2.15 million) in cash, gold ingots worth around ¥14 million and roughly ¥10 million in foreign bank notes were reported stolen from the home of a man in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, police said Friday.
A locked window on the first floor of the man's two-story house was found broken, according to the police. They suspect two or more people were involved in the theft because a 100-kg safe in the home was moved.
The man, 55, lives with his wife and had stored the cash in paper bags under the desk in a study on the second floor, and the foreign bank notes in a desk drawer. The gold bars were in another safe that was unlocked.
The wife left home at around 3:10 p.m. Thursday and returned about three hours later. She noticed the 100-kg safe had been moved and called the police.
The police said they have received dozens of reports of thefts bearing similar patterns since late last year.