OSAKA -- The president of a private university in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, was robbed of some 700,000 yen early Tuesday by three knife-wielding intruders, and police suspect the same non-Japanese Asians linked to 17 other break-ins in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures since March 1998 perpetrated the crime.

The three robbers broke into the residence of Yoshiyasu Shirai, 52, president of Osaka Gakuin University, at around 3 a.m. and threatened Shirai at knifepoint, police said.

Shirai told police the three spoke in a strange accent as they repeatedly said the words "kane" (money) and "kinko" (safe).