STRATEGIC PARTNERS
November 5, 2002
YOKOHAMA, Japan -- Thieves used stolen backhoes to break into ATMs and made off with 23 million yen (U.S. $189,000) in early November.
According the Daily Yoriumi, police reports said the machines were located in Yokohama and Kawaguchi and Saitama.
A Mizuho Bank ATM in Yokohama was found destroyed at 5:15 a.m. on Nov. 5, police said. A cash box containing 5 million yen (U.S. $41,000) was missing and a backhoe, which had been stolen from a construction site, was found nearby.
An ATM of Aoki Shinkin Bank also was reported missing from the grounds of a supermarket in Kawaguchi at 2:55 a.m. The machine was later found on Nov. 1 in a parking lot about 100 meters away, but its cash box, which a bank official said held 18 million yen (U.S. $147,735), was missing.
