A group of robbers made off with about 31.1 million yen in cash and checks early Sunday after attacking two security guards in a van in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, police said.
At around 2:40 a.m., four or five men wearing helmets stormed the security van after the guards returned with cash from the local office of delivery company Sagawa Express Co., police said.
After hitting the guards about the head and face with what appeared to be metal bats, the assailants sprayed them with tear gas, tied them up and stole eight bags containing 24.8 million yen in cash and 6.3 million yen in checks, police said.
The guards, Yoshitake Ogawa, 28, and Koji Yamamoto, 23, later freed themselves and notified police through the security company's head office. Ogawa was seriously hurt and Yamamoto slightly injured.