Man Held for Stealing 10-M.-Yen Golden Tea Bowl

Tokyo, April 13 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police on Saturday arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly stealing a pure gold tea bowl from an event site at an outlet of major Japanese department store operator Takashimaya Co. in the capital.

The man, Masaru Horie, admitted to the allegations, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. The bowl, made of 24-karat gold, is priced at 10,406,000 yen.

Horie, a resident of Koto Ward in Tokyo, is suspected of stealing the golden tea bowl from the exhibition event venue on the eighth floor of Takashimaya's Nihonbashi store in Tokyo's Chuo Ward around 11:40 a.m. Thursday.

A store worker who noticed the theft called police to report the incident around 12:15 p.m. the same day.

Security camera footage showed Horie putting the bowl in his backpack and fleeing toward Nihonbashi Station of subway operator Tokyo Metro Co. about 30 minutes later.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]