Police are searching for a group of men who broke into a house in rural Minamiaizu, Fukushima Prefecture, restraining a woman in her 60s and robbing her early Tuesday, amid a wave of similar robberies in neighboring prefectures.
While police are investigating the case as a robbery and assault, they are also investigating possible links to several similar cases in neighboring Tochigi, Nagano and Gunma prefectures that began late last month, targeting homes in sparsely populated mountain areas. .
In Tuesday’s case, the attackers entered the home around 1:05 a.m. while the woman, who lives alone, was sleeping. They tied her up with tape and demanded money, taking more than ยฅ10,000 ($64) from her bag.
