College student who took job on dark web arrested for attempted robbery

Police arrested a 23-year-old college student on Thursday on suspicion of trespassing and attempted robbery in the city of Mitaka, western Tokyo.

According to the police, suspect Masaki Saen, from the city of Kyoto, has admitted to the allegations, saying his search for an easy job on social media platform X, due to financial difficulties, led him to his circumstances.

After applying for a job through a dark web platform, Saen was instructed via encrypted messaging app Signal to travel to Tokyo, investigators reported. When he met with several other men at a park near an address provided to him, he was under the impression that he would be undertaking a delivery job.

However, he was instructed to break into the home to steal valuables, and was given a warning that he would be killed if he tried to flee.

At around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Saen, along with several other men, allegedly broke a window to enter a home in Mitaka. Once inside, they attempted to overpower a 70-year-old male resident. The resident put up resistance, leading the suspects to flee the scene without taking anything. The resident, his wife who is in her 60s and their daughter, in her 30s, escaped injuries.

After the robbery attempt, the suspects reportedly escaped on foot in different directions.

At around 11 p.m. on the same day, Saen turned himself in at a police box near the east exit of Tokyo's Ikebukuro Station, where police questioned him about the incident.

The police are currently searching for the other suspects.

Since the end of August, there have been over 20 reported incidents of robbery and home invasion linked to dark part-time jobs, or yami baito, in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures. A joint task force from Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, along with prefectural police from Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama, is investigating the involvement of anonymous and mobile crime groups known as tokuryu, with the aim of determining their command structure.