A rape suspect who escaped from an Osaka Prefecture police station earlier this week may have snatched purses from several people since going on the run, investigative sources said Thursday.
After Junya Hida, 30, disappeared from Tondabayashi Police Station in the suburbs of Osaka on Sunday evening, a series of purse thefts by a man on a black minibike have been reported in the vicinity every evening through Wednesday.
Given that Hida was also indicted over similar night-time thefts using a minibike in May, the police suspect he is taking money again.