The fake police officer’s business card that was shown to the woman to steal her cash card from her is pictured in this photo provided by Sakai Minami Police Station.
OSAKA — Police have arrested and filed additional charges against a self-described martial artist currently on trial, accusing him of stealing a bank cash card while pretending to be a police officer.
Osaka Prefectural Police’s Minami Sakai Police Station arrested Lebana Ezechiel, 23, a national of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and resident of the city of Soka in eastern Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, on various suspicions including theft.
He is specifically accused of conspiring in late April with other unidentified individuals to pose as a police officer and deceive an elderly woman in her 80s in the Osaka Prefecture city of Sakai’s Minami Ward, by falsely claiming that her cash card was being misused, and stealing the card from her. They allegedly used the card to withdraw 1.22 million yen (about $8,200) from an ATM. He has admitted to the allegations.
According to Minami Sakai Police Station, the accused showed the woman a police business card to make her believe that he was a police officer. It is believed that he applied for an illicit job through social media and received instructions from a person in control.
The police station has further gathered information on four additional theft charges and reported the suspect to public prosecutors, bringing the total amount of damages to 3.9 million yen (about $26,400).
(Japanese original by Nanami Otsubo, Osaka City News Department)
AloJapan.com