The Mainichi Shimbun reports:
FOLLOW-UP:
The Japan Times has more on the incident. Apparently, four men were involved in the suspected gang; police caught the gas sprayer, Chim Byong Gun, who was also packing a knife with an 8-inch blade. A South Korean national who was previously imprisoned in Japan on robbery and other charges, Chim was deported last year but soon re-entered the country illegally.
My thoughts:
(1) I wonder how the police can be so sure these guys were a "pickpocket gang". Do pickpockets normally carry huge knives and noxious gas cannisters?
(2) Thanks a lot, Chim. You just provided enough fuel to keep Japan's fears of a "foreign crime wave" burning for another year or so. Just what we need with new fingerprinting and ID card laws on the horizon.
A man who was apparently a member of a pickpocket gang blasted two police officers with teargas spray at a JR Yamanote Line station on Thursday morning, leaving them and other passengers with injuries.You know, if you need tear gas to make your getaway, maybe picking pockets isn't for you.
Two police officers and about 20 passengers on a platform at Nishi-Nippori Station in Tokyo's Arakawa-ku suffered sore eyes and throats. Fourteen of them, including the two officers, were taken to hospital.
FOLLOW-UP:
The Japan Times has more on the incident. Apparently, four men were involved in the suspected gang; police caught the gas sprayer, Chim Byong Gun, who was also packing a knife with an 8-inch blade. A South Korean national who was previously imprisoned in Japan on robbery and other charges, Chim was deported last year but soon re-entered the country illegally.
My thoughts:
(1) I wonder how the police can be so sure these guys were a "pickpocket gang". Do pickpockets normally carry huge knives and noxious gas cannisters?
(2) Thanks a lot, Chim. You just provided enough fuel to keep Japan's fears of a "foreign crime wave" burning for another year or so. Just what we need with new fingerprinting and ID card laws on the horizon.
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