A 19-year-old boy who escaped early last week from a juvenile correction center in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, before allegedly assaulting and robbing a woman has been arrested in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, police said.
The boy, whose identity is being withheld because he is a minor, was spotted at Kenko Land Musashino, a health spa in the city, on Friday night.
He was on the Metropolitan Police Department's wanted list for robbing a 31-year-old woman of a bag containing about 40,000 yen in cash at knifepoint at around 7:40 p.m. Tuesday in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, police said. The woman suffered cuts to her neck.
The Metropolitan Police and Saitama Prefectural Police will jointly question the boy on suspicion he attempted to rob a convenience store in Taito Ward, Tokyo, on Tuesday evening and in connection with an assault reported here Wednesday evening.
The boy escaped from the Kurihama Juvenile Correction Center on Tuesday while washing dishes after lunch.
According to police, Saitama police had given photographs of the suspect to the health spa in the belief that he might visit the facility because he had been a member until about a year ago.
Staff contacted police after the boy tried to enter the spa without paying, police said.