A 16-year-old high school student and two men were arrested Monday for allegedly robbing a man of a bag containing about ¥72 million ($650,900) in cash in Tokyo's posh Ginza shopping district in April, police said.
Okito Ogasawara, 20, Yuta Kurata, 23, and the teen are suspected of assaulting the man at around 1:30 p.m. on April 21 to steal the bag, the police said. The student's name is being withheld because he is a minor.
According to the police, the teen, who goes to a public high school in Chiba Prefecture, admitted to the charge but the two adults denied it.
The police said they identified the suspects from security camera footage taken around the crime scene.
The target had just sold 15 kg of gold bullion at a nearby shop when the trio struck. But they only made off with ¥40 million of the cash in the bag because they dropped some ¥32 million at the site, the police said, adding that Ogasawara and Kurata used to be in the same bosozoku (motorcycle gang) and lured the teen into joining them.
Each had a separate role in the robbery, the police said. The boy was apparently supposed to hurl himself at the man while Ogasawara snatched the bag and Kurata stood by on a motorcycle to execute the getaway.