The 49-year-old man arrested early Tuesday in the suspected arson attack that killed six people in a jewelry shop Sunday night has admitted dousing his victims with gasoline and setting them afire, officials said.

Kazuo Shinozawa, a former noodle shop proprietor of Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, allegedly fled from the scene with 120 million yen worth of jewelry after killing the six workers at the Utsunomiya branch of Tsutsumi Jewelry Co.

Shinozawa's evident motive for the arson and murder was to rob the shop of the jewels. He was quoted as telling police that he needed money because he was in debt several millions of yen.

Investigators identified Shinozawa from surveillance camera footage taken of a man fleeing the shop, carrying a sack, at the time of the Sunday evening fire. The arcade where the shop is located has security video monitors.