OSAKA -- Three men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbing a bank of 25 million yen earlier in the day at a Kinki Osaka Bank branch in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, police said.
Two men wielding guns entered the bank's Aramoto branch at 2:40 p.m. and fired several shots into the ceiling, police said. After demanding money from a bank employee, the two then escaped in a black van driven by a third man. No one was hurt in the incident.
The van had fake license plates, police added.
They said they are investigating a possible connection between the robbery and two similar armed bank robberies in Osaka and Kyoto last month.
Armed thieves stole some 5.2 million yen in cash from a Taisho Bank branch in Nishi Ward, Osaka, on Nov. 21 and about 20 million yen in cash from a Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank branch in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, on Nov. 28.