KOBE (Kyodo) A stolen truck was used in a predawn smash-and-grab jewelry heist Monday in Kobe, police said.
The truck was slammed backward into the Ebisu Jewelry Shop in Chuo Ward at around 4:40 a.m., the police said. The suspects smashed display cases and stole ¥10 million worth of jewelry.
The store's safe was untouched. The theft took two minutes to pull off, police said.
A passerby saw three men driving away in the truck, which was later found abandoned on a street about 200 meters southwest of the store. The police said the truck had been reported stolen from a local company.
The store is on a 400-meter-long arcade street stretching westward from JR Sannomiya Station. Broken glass and a damaged pillar indicated the force of the impact to break into the store.
A female worker of an adjacent jewelry shop said the incident left her frightened.
Also before dawn Monday, three stolen trucks were used to destroy the entrances to business establishments in Saga Prefecture, including two engaged in sexual services.
The third establishment is a hostel.
No one was reported injured.
In all three incidents, stolen trucks bearing Saga license plates were backed into the entrances between 4:15 and 4:30 a.m.
Police in the cities of Imari, Ogi and Saga, where the incidents occurred, are investigating whether the attacks were coordinated.
The two business involved in "delivery health" call girl services were not affiliated with each other, the police said.
