Tokyo police have arrested on suspicion of jewelry theft two women who are believed to be members of a worldwide gang known as “Pink Panda” specializing in stealing jewelry from exhibitions, it was learned Wednesday.
Yi Xiaofeng, a 37-year-old Chinese national, and another woman are alleged to have stolen six pearl pendants valued at a total of ¥1,865,000 at an international jewelry exhibition at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center in the capital’s Koto Ward at around 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 17. They are both denying the charges.
The gang’s members mostly come from China’s Hunan Province.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the suspects entered Japan on Jan. 16 on short stay visas. They left the country at around 2 a.m. on Jan. 18.
The police identified the two suspects using evidence such as video footage before acquiring their arrest warrants. The two were apprehended when they returned to Japan on Tuesday, apparently in time for a three-day jewelry event that started in Tokyo on Wednesday.
At the event in January, four other thefts of jewelry items, including pendants and rings, valued at a total of about ¥10 million were reported. The police are investigating whether the two suspects were also involved in these thefts.