STRATEGIC PARTNERS
June 27, 2002
OSAKA, Japan -- Authorities now believe an employee of a security company who refilled ATMs with cash may have been involved in an explosion at an ATM, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Police plan to question the employee, Satoshi Ueno, in connection with the June 18 explosion. Ueno was injured in the blast, which police believe he caused while trying to start a fire using gasoline. Three others were also injured in the explosion at an ATM operated by Asahi Bank.
Police found an electric drill and crowbar at the scene of the blast and are examining a car belonging to the suspect found parked outside. Inside the vehicle, police found about 25 million yen in cash, a small amount of gasoline in a plastic container and a receipt for an electric drill of the same type as the one found at the ATM.
Police suspect Uneo had stolen money and planned to set the area alight afterward, but the gasoline may have exploded while he was still inside the building. Police also found pieces of plastic containers at the scene. After comparing the pieces with the plastic container inside his car, police found they were the same type.
Uneo had told police he saw a man, looking like a janitor, scattering something on the floor and then leaving the branch before the explosion, adding that he was caught in the explosion immediately after entering the building.
However, police have yet to find other eyewitnesses who saw such a suspicious man.
